3S2= 
spy 1 



HE 

CONGO. 



^ 




Edited from 

-NqUs and Q$nmrMti(m& of ] 
Missionaries by 

Mrs, H. a, Guinness 









UPPER CONGO FISHERMAN. 



. 



CONGO RECOLLECTIONS. 



EDITED 

FROM NOTES AXD COXVERSATIONS 

OF MISSIONARIES. 



BY 

MRS. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS, 

Hon. Sec. of the East London Institute for Honu attd Foreign Missions 
Harley H: -,:■:. Bom x E. 



HODDER AXD STOUGHTOX. 

2;, PATERNOSTER ROW. 

MDCCCXC. 



13; v 



9 O'OO 



BUTLER & TANNER, 

THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS, 

FROME, AND LONDON. 



PREFACE. 



The following recollections of some of our dear 
Congo missionaries may serve to bring men and 
incidents in this part of Central Africa before the 
minds of those who are interested in the Dark 
Continent. 

Mr. Harvey went out ten years ago, and Mr. 
McKittrick about six years ago. Both were con- 
nected with the Livingstone Inland Mission, which 
was the first to take the gospel into this region. Its 
earliest members landed at Banana in January, 1878, 
just after Stanley's journey through the Dark Con- 
tinent had made known to the world the vast entrance 
to Central Africa from the west. This Mission 
—which in 1884 was transferred to the American 
Baptist Missionary Union, in Boston — has borne 
already most encouraging fruit. Several native 
Churches, with hundreds of converts — numbers of 
whom are themselves preachers of the gospel — are 
now connected with it. 

Mr. J. McKittrick has become leader in a new 
English extension of the Mission, on to the southern 
tributaries of this mightiest river of Africa. It is 
called the Congo-Balolo Mission, and its sphere of 
labour is the country of the Balolo-speaking people, 



PREFACE. 



who occupy the great horse-shoe bend of the Congo, 
and are supposed to number about ten million. The 
first party of missionaries for this new field started 
in April, 1889. Two stations are already occupied 
on the Lulonga and Maringa rivers, and eleven mis- 
sionaries connected with this effort are now in Africa, 
and a third will be opened this spring. A steamer 
called the Pioneer has been sent out for the use of 
the Mission. It is intended to found stations also 
on the Juapa, the Ikelemba, and the Bosira. 

It is difficult for civilized Europeans to realize 
what life in Central Africa is like, and it is still harder 
for Christian people to conceive heathen existence. 
We ought however to try and understand it, in order 
that we may sympathise, pity, and help. May these 
sketches enable some readers to do so ! 

Further information can be obtained from our 
larger work on the same subject, " The New World 
of Central Africa." 

Who would not like to help to carry the light from 
heaven into the darkness of Africa ? 




'^isUsCct&Af. 



Harley House, Bow, 
London, E„ 



CONTENTS. 

MEN AND MANNERS ON THE CONGO. KING 
KANGAMPAKA AND THE KROO-BOYS. THE NATIVE 
MIND AND THE GOSPEL. THE CONGO TELEPHONE. 
A WALK IN BALOLOLAND. A CHAT WITH MR. 
RICHARDS, OF BANZA MANTEKA. 



<r 




Sketch Map to show the Locality occupied by the Ealolo People, and the First Two Stations of the Nf; 
A Third will (d.v.) be opened on the Juapa River in 1890. 



CHAPTER I. 
KING KANGAMPAKA AND THE KROO-BOYS. 



The following chapter contains 
recollections by Mr. Charles 
Harvey, of Lukunga, who first 
went out in 1880, and is still on 
the Congo. He was married 
to a missionary, Miss Harris, 
and had the sorrow of losing 
his wife. 

The name of the old chief 

of Palabala was Kangam- 

paka or Nkangampaka. 

He was a very shrewd 

man, apparently about 

sixty years old, but, 

, like most Africans, he 

.- had no idea of his own 

age ; for once, when 

asked how old he was, 

he said that he believed 

he was " about twenty." 

He was very polite to all white men ; in fact, his 

politeness was pushed so far as to be an annoyance to 

any one unacquainted with the ways of African chiefs. 

When visited by a white man, he would send a 




A CONGO KING. 



io « CATCH HIS SPIRIT! CATCH HIS SPIRIT! 



slave for a chair for the guest, while he would sit on 
an empty gin box. He would then bring out some 
palm wine, or malava mamputu (trade gin) if his 
visitor would take it, inquiring in the meantime, with 
much apparent concern, respecting his health, etc., 
etc. ; and as it was contrary to etiquette to ask him 
to state the purpose of his visit, the guest could 
choose his own time for this, and could speak as 
long as he chose without fear of interruption, unless 
anything was mentioned that required explanation. 

The old man, however, broke down signally on one 
occasion, and completely forgot his dignity. 

In company with Mr. Picton, I was paying him 
a visit, after a long absence. An elderly man, a 
stranger to me, was present in the courtyard, seated 
near to the chief. Kangampaka was making a speech 
to this man, full of nauseating compliments respecting 
myself, when suddenly the old stranger fell forward 
on his face in an epileptic fit. The king became 
at once very excited, and, invoking the aid of his 
nkissi, or fetish, he cried out loudly again and again, 
" Catch his spirit ! catch his spirit ! " The courtyard 
in a few minutes was filled with men all armed with 
guns, whilst on the outside of the fence were women 
and children with terrified faces trying to peep over 
and ascertain the cause of the disturbance. Kangam- 
paka at once told the men who ran in that the wicked 
old stranger who was lying struggling on the ground 
had endeavoured to work evil upon him, but that his 
own nkissi was too powerful for him, and had found 
him out. I could easily see, by the way he was look- 



A VISIT TO KANGAMPAKA. 



ing at the man, his face being full of horror and hatred, 
that he meant mischief to the stranger ; I therefore 
rose, and, addressing the king, told him that the man 
was only ill, and was not necessarily a bad man. The 
old chief here interrupted me, saying, very rudely, 
that it was none of my business, but that this was a 
matter that must be settled Fiote fashion. I knew, 
of course, that this would mean death to the poor old 
stranger, so I insisted upon being heard, telling the 
king that in our country we knew all about that 
sickness, for we had plenty of people who were taken 
ill in the same way, and some of them were very good 
people. I further told him that God would be angry 
if he took away the man's life because he was sick, 
and not only would he have to answer to God in the 
other world, but to man in this world, if he did not let 
the poor fellow alone. I could see that he felt him- 
self in a dilemma, but he thought for a minute or 
two, and at length said, — 

" You say you know all about this sickness in your 
country ; well then, if so, give him medicine to cure 
him, and then we shall know that it is a sickness." 

I at once accepted the challenge, believing that the 
fit could not last very long, and that a little brandy 
would do him no harm. Leaving Picton to watch 
events, I started off to the mission house to procure 
it, and in the meantime the man came to, and was 
allowed to depart unharmed. 

Kangampaka was of a very revengeful disposition, 
especially towards those he considered to be the 
enemies of his town. 



12 A CONGO DYNAMITARD. 



On one occasion he came to me and asked for 
some of that stuff like Bula Matari (Stanley) used 
in blowing up some rocks near Vivi — dynamite, of 
course. Being curious to know why he wanted it, I 
asked him, and he said : " Those Noki people are 
bad people. Give me some of that stuff like Bula 
Matari has, and I will put some under their hill, and 
blow them all into the air." 

He laughed very incredulously when I told him 
that I had none, and added that if I had, I should not 
dare to give it to him for such a dreadful purpose, as 
God had told us to love our enemies — not to blow 
them in the air ! He looked hard at me, as much as 
to say, " Do you white men really believe in loving 
enemies ? " I fancy that he had a difficulty in recon- 
ciling such a creed with the big cannon of which he 
had heard ! 

The old man had a very great veneration for a 
book or anything written. I was obliged to take 
advantage of this one day. 

It happened that we had cut down some trees in 
a sacred wood near the station, which displeased the 
chiefs very much. My first intimation of this was by 
a messenger, who said, " The chief is angry, and is 
coming to see you." Soon afterwards the old man and 
two other chiefs arrived. He tried very carefully to 
explain that he was my friend, and not at all displeased 
with me, but that a number of other chiefs were very 
angry, not only with me, but also with him, for not 
being angry with me in the matter of the desecration 
of the sacred wood. 




HENRY CRAVEN, OF LIVERPOOL, 
THE FIRST MISSIONARY TO THE CONGO. 

SAILED IN JAN., 1878 \ DIED AT KABINDA, OCT. 14TH, 18 
13 



H "DON'T WRITE ANYTHING, WHITE MAN!" 

I replied that I was so glad he had not sided with 
the other chiefs, for now the matter would be very 
simple, for if he would only tell me their names, I 
would see about it. So getting a large sheet of paper 
and pen and ink, I asked him to tell me the name 
of the first, that I might write it down. This 
evidently caused much consternation, for there was a 
good deal of whispering among them. They had not 
calculated upon this. Who could foresee what might 
come about if names were put in a letter ? After a 
few minutes, the king said, " Don't write anything 
down, white man. The matter is settled ! " And I 
never heard any more of it ! 

Kangampaka was very fond of Craven, and would 
do anything for him, except give his heart to God, and 
this of course was what Craven desired most of all. 
At times there seemed to be a probability that he 
would yield, for undoubtedly more than once he was 
under serious concern for his soul ; but there was one 
thing that hindered, and that was the white mans 
drink ! 

Long before he knew the missionary the old man 
had acquired a craving for the fiery spirit sold by the 
lower river traders, and no inducement could per- 
suade him to give it up. On this point he was all 
along openly at variance with the missionaries, and 
he considered that Craven's only fault was refusing to 
supply him with gin. Craven made very earnest and 
persistent efforts to reclaim him from the power of 
this curse, and often sent coffee to the king's house 
(when he had promised to try and give up the drink), 







I.-'- v " ■''''' 



AN AFRICAN GRAVE, WITH BROKEN CROCKERY. 



1 6 KANGAMPAKA'S FUNERAL. 

hoping that it would be substituted for the wretched 
gin ; but, alas ! the demon prevailed, for up to the day 
of his death, twelve months ago, he was, body and 
soul, the slave of drink. 

In accordance with Congo custom, his body was 
kept for a long time in the house in which he had 
died, until sufficient cloth had been given by his 
relatives and friends to wind around the corpse, and 
bury with him. After months had elapsed, and an 
enormous quantity been contributed, the funeral took 
place; but by this time the body with its multitu- 
dinous wrappings resembled a large hogshead, painted 
over with a number of strange devices. He was 
buried in a great pit which was dug close to the spot 
where he had so long conducted both his court and 
his revels. 

Poor, guilty, and yet victimized Kangampaka ! 
• He could never bear to hear of the resurrection of the 
dead, yet rise again lie mast ! But who in that great 
day would not rather be the drunken heathen chief 
than the so-called Christian trader, with blood-guilti- 
ness for the ruin of that old man, among thousands 
of others, upon his soul ? Beyond all doubt trade-gin 
was the stumbling-block that kept him from Christ. 
The fascination of the drunkard's delirious paradise 
was too great for the morally weak and helpless 
heathen to resist. Woe to those who lured him, — 
and are daily luring thousands like him — to degrada- 
tion, ruin, and death, for the sake of selfish gain ! 




C. R. 



AN N'GANGA, OR MEDICINE-MAN. 

T7 



1 8 frail tenements. 

Houses at Palabala. 

The first house put up at Palabala was built of 
native material almost entirely, the only exception 
being the doors and windows, which were made out 
of Morton's provision boxes ! 

The roof was thatched with dried grass, but the 
thatching was not well done, and there was consider- 
able leakage in various places during the tornadoes 
which occurred at least every other day in the wet 
season. 

When the first sound of a storm came, waterproofs 
ground sheets, and mackintoshes would be brought 
out to cover everything that could spoil or be 
damaged by wet, such as beds, blankets, and books. 
Where the leakage was very bad, pails would be 
placed underneath, to prevent large pools forming 
on the floors of the various rooms. But what was to 
be dreaded more than tornadoes was a fog or Scotch 
mist, such as frequently enveloped the Palabala hill, 
which was 1,700 feet high. The walls of the house 
being made only of papyrus-mats, were more useful 
for ventilation than for protection from the weather. 
It was no unusual thing to go to bed, the stars shin- 
ing brightly outside, and to wake very early in the 
morning, feeling shivery and uncomfortable. If the 
matches were not too damp, a light would be struck, 
and then the cause of the trouble would be only too 
apparent, for the room would be seen to be full of a 
thick fog which would chill one to the bone. During 
the night the clouds had gathered, and one black, 



COMFORTLESS CONDITIONS. 



19 




dense rain-cloud had struck the hill and penetrated 
everywhere. In the morning, boots, socks, trousers 
Bible, everything, would be clammy and damp. 

What wonder therefore that we all, without excep- 
tion, had many fevers, or that some of our number 
died ! That so many escaped, although usually with 
broken health, was the surprising thing. Such risks 
as we ran by living in so poor and unsuitable a house 
should, if possible, be avoided, even at the begin- 
ning of a local work, and, with sufficient resources, 
experience, and due foresight, they can and ought 
to be. 

Some little time before the present iron house was 
put up, matters began to assume a very bad appear- 
ance as regards the safety of the old house and of 
the out-houses. 

One day, while a tornado was raging, we heard 



20 TROPICAL TORNADOES. 

above the storm a loud noise succeeded by screams 
of terror from the children. 

" The cook-house must be blown down/' said 
Craven. 

I ran to the nearest door, but I was an invalid and 
not strong at that time, and as it faced the storm and 
opened outwards, the storm completely mastered me. 
Try all in my power, I could not open that door ! In 
the meantime Craven had got through a side door, 
and was overjoyed to find that although the cook- 
house had indeed fallen, it had fallen over and round 
the poor frightened children, and had not hurt a 
single one of them. Our evening worship that day 
became a service of praise ! 

The next tornado after this nearly brought the 
dwelling-house down about our own ears. It was a 
very wild storm. The lightning was terrible, flash suc- 
ceeding flash with hardly any intermission. The wind 
roared and shrieked among the trees of the plantation 
close by, while the thunder boomed and crashed in- 
cessantly. The wall on the storm side of the station 
began to sway. It seemed as if any moment might 
see us buried beneath the ruins of the house. Craven 
called to me, shouting at the top of his voice because 
of the storm, " We had better get into the store : it's 
safer there ! Where is Johnson ? " I found Johnson 
in his room watching with dismay the swaying wall 
I laid hold of him, and said, " Come along " ; but he 
protested, " Wait, wait ; I believe the house will 
come down." As this seemed to me to be an urgent 
reason why we should not wait, I pulled him for- 



J A CAT- OF- ALL- TRADES. 



21 



cibly out ; but just then one of the sudden lulls pecu- 
liar to tropical tornadoes came, and we were saved 
for that time. 

Soon after this the old house was propped and 
shored up, which proved sufficient to keep it from 
being blown down until it was superseded by a good 
corrugated iron structure, built on a site a little dis- 
tance away. In this there is no need to fear rain, fog, 
or storm, although it is built in a much more exposed 
position than was the old house. 



The Kroo-Bov. 

In the early stages of 
the mission's history the 
natives could not be de- 
pended upon for labour of 
any kind, so it became ne- 
cessary to hire Kroo-boys 
(or Kroo-men, for they are 
usually full-grown men) 
from the Guinea Coast, 
and these have proved 
themselves to be the best 
kind of black labourers a 
white man can employ. 

The Kroo-boy gene- 
rally has the most profound veneration for his white 
master, and if ordinarily well treated, becomes much 
attached to him, and will go through fire and water 
to serve him. 

He will work from sunrise to sunset at the hardest 




12 



CONGO CARRIERS. 




CARRIERS CROSSING A RIVER. 



kind of labour, such as carrying stones to make the 
foundation for a house, or puddling clay to make 
walls. He will work quite cheerfully, and will be 
thoroughly satisfied with about a pound of rice, or a 
few heads of maize, and some plantains per day, with 
the addition of some fish or meat once or twice a 



SOLVING A PROBLEM. 23 



week. If required (and of course he is not by mis- 
sionaries), he is quite willing to shoulder a gun and 
fight his master's enemies with much bravery if his 
master will only lead him ; or he will without a 
murmur (or, at the most, with a murmur) throw down 
his spade or pick, and within a quarter of an hour 
start on a journey of a hundred miles, carrying a load 
of sixty pounds weight, with the addition of his own 
rations for the journey. All this he will do for about 
6d. or gd. per day and his food. 

The Kroo-boy usually discards his own name, and 
adopts one given to him by the purser of the steamer 
or others, probably on account of the unpronounce- 
ability of the Kroo-names by the unfacile English 
tongue. The distribution of these names is often 
very facetious, and not unseldom positively ludicrous. 
Sometimes when a Kroo-boy is asked his name, he 
will give "Jim Crow," " Snowball," "Red Herring," or 
even " Frying Pan " or " Pea Soup." It sounds very 
comical when a messenger comes and tells you that 
"Jim Crow " has been pitching into " Pea Soup," or 
that " Frying Pan " won't give up the cooking pot, or 
has insulted poor "Tea Kettle" by calling him a black 
bushman. 

Although he is intelligent, the Kroo-boy is by no 
means highly civilized, and appliances puzzle him. 
At a certain station a quantity of earth had to be 
carried from a pit to make a foundation for a house, 
and a wheelbarrow was introduced to save time and 
labour. The Kroo-boy loaded the barrow very care- 
fully, and then stood still, scratched his head, and 



24 



KROO-BOY PARAPHRASE OF 




KKOO "BOYS" IN THE WATER. 



looked completely mystified. What was to be done 
next ? In a minute or two he had solved the pro- 
blem, and walked away with the loaded wheelbarrow 
on the top of his head ! 

The Kroo-boy is very ready to listen to Christian 
teaching, but his language is the great hindrance to a 
communication of the gospel message to him, while 
his own knowledge of the English tongue is extremely 
imperfect. The medium generally employed is a kind 
of " pidgin English, which hardly answers the pur- 
pose of conversing upon the ordinary affairs of life ; 
consequently when the sublime truths of the gospel 
are the subject, its poverty and imperfectness is but 
too apparent ; nevertheless some eternal impressions 
have doubtless been made upon the hearts of these 
poor simple-minded heathen servants. The mis* 



THE PRODIGAL SON. 25 

sionary, indeed, has a choice between speaking good 
English to one of their number, who understands 
better than his neighbours, and can translate into 
Kroo — and speaking in broken English, such as the 
Kroo-boys themselves use. The latter is usually 
preferred, as the interpreter cannot be followed, and 
cannot be detected when he has misapprehended and 
misrepresented truth ; but the difficulties are very 
great either way. 

The following is a specimen of Kroo-boy English, 
and is, as will be seen, a paraphrase of the " Prodigal 
Son." 

" One man live for dem other country, he catch two 
boy. 

" Dem young boy he say to him father, 'I no fit to 
stop here. I fit to go far 'way ; give me cloth.' 

" Him father he feel sick for heart ; he no want 'm 
go, but dem boy he say, ' I go.' 

" Dem boy, he go for road, he sleep plenty night for 
path, den he see one town, he say, 'I fit to stop here.' 

" Dem men for dat town sabby (know) plenty cheat, 
dem boy he buy palm wine, he buy gin, he buy pig he 
give dem men. Every night, plenty, plenty dance. 

" One day he look in box, no see cloth; cloth finish. 

" Dem men for town dey say, ' We no catch cloth 
for you. Go 'way.' 

" Dem boy he no catch kwanga, no catch plantain ; 
he live for die ! (i.e. he is about to die). 

" He see one man, he say, 'I fit to work for you, 
massa.' Dem man he say, ' All right. Pigs dere, live 
for field, go keep 'm.' 



26 



PARAPHRASE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. 



" Dem boy he go, he see pig's chop (pig's food), 
him 'tummack too much sick (faint with hunger), he 
chop 'm (ate some). 

"Dem boy he say, ' All dem Kroo-boy (servants) for 
my father catch plenty chop. I no fit to stop here. 
'Spose I stop here, den I live for die' (I shall die). 

" He sleep plenty nights for road, den he see dem 
house for him father. Him father he look, he look, 
he say, ' My boy he live for come ' (just coming). 
" He run plenty ; he look dat boy, he kiss 'm. 
" Dem boy he say to 'm father, ' I be bad too 
much ; I no be chile for you any more* I fit to be 
Kroo-boy (servant) for you/ 

" Him father he say to dem boy, ' You come 'long.' 
" Dem father he tell dem Kroo-boy, ' You go catch 
calf. Make plenty chop (food). You sabby (know) 
dis boy come back ? All same 'spose he come back 
from grave. We fit to dance plenty to-night/ " 




CENTRAL AFRICAN POTTERY. 



CHAPTER II. 




Telephonic com- 
munication is by no 
means one of the new things under the sun, especially 
under the tropical Congo sun ; for the various tribes 
dwelling on the banks of the Congo, both on the upper 
and lower river, have for ages had a very complete 
system of telegraphing by sound, or telephoning as it is 
called. They are perfectly able to communicate in this 
way any word or sentence ; anything, in fact, which 
they are able to speak themselves, they can transmit 
to towns a long distance off, but which are within 
hearing distance. 

This communication is effected by means of a kind 
of drum, which is made of very hard wood, hollow 
throughout, and varying in thickness so that when 
struck from the inside, as many as four different tones 
or sounds can be produced. 

The operator holds in each hand a drum-stick ; 
and by varying the intervals between the beats upon 
the different toned sides of the drum, an almost 



28 NATIVE TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION. 

infinite variety of signals can be conveyed to the ear. 
Usually the natives take this drum down to the 
water's edge, as they know by practical experience 
that sound travels much farther over water surface 
than over land. The town is first " called," and w r hen 
reply is made the message to be conveyed is beaten 
out syllable by syllable. But its uses are by no means 
confined to communication with neighbouring towns, 
but far more frequently it is employed for local 
purposes ; for instance, the drum will suddenly sound 
out the name of some individual who belongs to the 
same town and who is perhaps in the forest hard by, 
or at the mission station ; and he is told that his chief 
wants to speak to him, or his wife may intimate that 
dinner is quite ready, or a trusting friend will publicly 
advise him that he will be very glad of repayment 
of the fifty brass rods borrowed in the more or less 
remote past, and so on. 

In the Cataract Region, in towns away from the 
river, the natives communicate with other towns 
chiefly at night, when everything is so still and quiet 
that the cry of the jackal or the hooting of the owl 
can be heard many miles away. 

At Palabala they carry the drum to the side of the 
hill when they wish to send a message to Nokki, a 
town on a neighbouring hill, but which is six to seven 
miles ofif as the crow flies. After some amount of 
beating in a peculiar irregular way, they pause ; and 
the sound of an answering drum at Nokki can be 
distinctly, though faintly heard. Then some words 
or part of message is telephoned, and the answering 





pfam 

1 Thirty-two Cataracts 
8 J J 



AN 



D Ra 



PIDS OF THE 



Lower Congo. 



29 



THE PREACHING DRUM. 



signal u all right" is given after each pause. Then 
the Palabala drum will stop, and the Nokki drum 
beat out some reply, to which the responses will be 
given in due order. 

These drums are especially valuable in time of dis- 
pute or war ; for an international question can be 
argued under the very best possible conditions, when 
every one is calm, and the wit and wisdom of each 
town fully available to assist negotiations. In case 
of an attack being intended upon a neighbouring 
town, due notice would be given as a matter of course 
by means of the drum, and the day and the time of 
the day (or position of the sun) duly notified when 
the attack might be expected ! 

The missionaries at the Equator Station had once 
practical evidence of the usefulness of the telephone 
drum, and of the fulness and accuracy of the news 
conveyed by it. 

Before starting upon an expedition to towns not 
previously visited, Mr. McKittrick had engaged the ser- 
vices of a drummer. This man would take his station 
in the fore part of the canoe, and some time before 
they got to a town he would tell the people all about 
the missionary, how peaceable his errand was, and the 
good things he had to tell them. Consequently, instead 
of an armed, suspicious crowd to meet them at the 
landing-place, the chiefs and the people would be 
waiting to accord them a hearty welcome. In this 
way quite a number of towns were visited without 
danger to the missionary or the people who accom- 
panied him. One day, while returning to Equator 



THE LANGUAGE. 31 



ville, but. several miles away, the drummer conveyed 
to the natives at the station tidings of the doings of 
the expedition, the names of the towns visited, the 
substance of what the chiefs said, the shooting of a 
hippopotamus, and other incidents. All this the 
people told the missionary left in charge of the sta- 
tion before his colleague arrived, and it was found by 
comparison to agree in every particular with the facts. 
Who can say to what other uses this valuable 
means of communication may yet be brought ? May 
it not reasonably be hoped, that in time to come other 
messages than those of dispute and war will be con- 
veyed, and the wonderful story of God's love to man, 
as shown by the gift of His only begotten Son, be the 
subject of many a message to many of the towns yet 
unevangelized, and especially to those which would 
not be disposed at first to permit a missionary to go 
among them. In this way not only an entire town, 
but often a number of towns, might at the same 
time listen to the " glad tidings of great joy," sounded 
forth on some Gospel Telephone Drum. 

Linguistic Difficulties. 

The curse of the Tower of Babel is very specially 
realized by those whose duty and privilege it is to 
pioneer in a perfectly heathen and uncivilized country 
where the language has never been reduced to writing 
and where there are no interpreters of any kind. 

If an Englishman travels abroad, in most parts of 
the world he is able to secure the services of an 
interpreter ; he can carry a pocket dictionary, and 



32 



THE WHITE BOGIE. 



by help of the literature of the country he can soon 
make himself understood. But in a land absolutely 
without dictionaries, grammars, or interpreters, the 
case is very different ! 

When we first landed on the Congo, communication 
with the natives was principally by pantomime, and 
the acquisition of the first little vocabulary was diffi- 
cult and slow work. 




THE CEREMONY OF MAKING PRESENTS, OR "DASH." 



Let us suppose the missionary has just reached 
the country — fresh from Europe ; his tent has been 
pitched not far from a Congo village, with a view 
to cultivating amicable relations with the people. 

At first the natives seem very timid, and hardly 
dare to approach nearer than to be able to com- 
mand a distant view of the camp. But the mission- 
aries are both inside their tent, which emboldens 



BABEVS CURSE. 33 



some of the more venturesome of the people to hazard 
themselves a few yards nearer; but suddenly the can- 
vas door of the tent is flung on one side, and out steps 
the man with the bogie-looking white skin (the native 
bogie is always white). Instantly there is a general 
panic, and young and old scamper away in terror, and 
hide themselves in the long grass. In a few minutes 
however they recover somewhat ; and a few of the 
men, feeling a little ashamed of themselves, begin to 
cuff the small boys and demand very indignantly why 
they ran away from the white man. 

But now the fowl-merchant makes his appearance, 
carrying on his head a long basket made of palm 
branches full of fowls. He ranks in public estimation 
as a very dreadnought, for he for years has made 
periodic excursions down the country right into the 
white man's lair for purposes of trade, and has always 
returned triumphantly, bearing rich spoils in the 
shape of handkerchiefs, beads, and bottles of the white 
man's palm wine {inalavu mamputu) y or gin. But 
even he keeps at a respectful distance, and places 
his fowls on the ground about a dozen yards from the 
tent. The missionary goes over to him, and at once 
the native addresses him in what is to him an un- 
intelligible jargon. Which of that jumble of sounds 
is a word ? 

How impossible it seems to be, even to make a 
beginning with such a language ! 

The poor missionary shakes his head and looks 
helpless. 

But one of the Kroo-boys, just fresh from the 

a*. 3 



34 " YOU FIT BUY DEM FOWL t" 

Guinea Coast, sees the situation, and although he does 
not understand a word of the native language, offers 
his services as interpreter. 

" Any port in a storm/ 5 thinks the missionary. 
Besides, the responsibility of failure will be shifted, 
or at least divided, so he makes no objection. 

" Snowball," the Kroo-boy (who by the bye is 
unusually black even for a Kroo-boy) says, — 
" You fit to buy dem fowl, massa ? " 
" Yes, Snowball, I want to buy them." 
" How much massa fit to give ? " 
" Oh, that depends. How much does he want ? " 
Snowball sidles over towards the native — who 
shrinks away a little, and looks as if he wishes he 
hadn't come — he then shouts in his ear : ■" Look'ee, 
you black bushman — dem fowl — how much?" 

The native scratches his head and looks puzzled, 
then rattles away at a great rate in his own language 
as a kind of self-defence, which makes " Snowball " 
look perplexed in his turn. However he tries again, 
and taking four fowls out of the basket, he hands 
over a piece of cloth, which the native carefully exa- 
mines, then proceeds to ascertain for how many 
fowls he is supposed to have been paid. He slowly 
counts twice over, Imosi^ toie, itatii, ia, one, two, three, 
four. These are evidently some of the numerals, so 
the missionary repeats after him, as if counting him- 
self, Imosi) iole^ itatu, ia, to the delight of the native, 
who thinks he must know more of the language than 
he pretends. He consequently breaks forth in quite 
a tornado of eloquence ; but his auditor by this time 



"IMOSI, /OLE, ITATU, IA" 



35 



is carefully noting down " imosi, iole y itatii, ia" and 
feels that whatever the four fowls may eventually cost 
him in cloth, they will be cheap with these adjectives 
thrown in. 

But the fowl-merchant is evidently dissatisfied, for 
he takes up one of the fowls and puts it back in the 
basket, still keeping the cloth in his hand, repeating 
again and again, " Nsusu zitatio, nsusu zitatu? The 
" itatii " is three, can " nsusu " be the word for fowl ? 
It is put to the test, and after almost as much ex- 
penditure of breath as would be sufficient to capture 
an African butterfly, the word is 
caught, and duly transferred to the 
note-book always kept handy for 
that purpose. 

In the mean- 
time the other 
natives have ap- 
proached nearer 
and nearer, being 
unable to resist 
the temptation of 
seeing a bargain 
struck ; for next 
to the pleasure of 
buying and sell- 
ing personally, 
the Congo native 
enjoys looking on 
while others trade. 
The business is 




KROOBOY. 



VALUE OF SCOLDING IN ENGLISH. 



now at last completed, and the fowls sold at the rate 
of three for one piece of cloth ; and finally all parties 
go away satisfied, but none more so than "Snowball," 
who feels that he is getting on well with the native lan- 
guage, or, as he himself calls it, " dem bushman talk." 

Still better opportunities of acquiring the language 
occurred during school teaching. The quick boys of 
the school soon discovered that the highway to favour 
with the teacher was to help him to get hold of words 
in their language ; and, indeed, the pleasure of being 
the teacher of the teacher — and that teacher a white 
man too — was so highly appreciated that it was freely 
indulged in by all. 

But the teacher was compelled to be judicious in 
his employment of words and phrases thus acquired, 
otherwise it would neither minister to the edification 
nor to the discipline of the school. It was early dis- 
covered that the missionary would act wisely if he did 
his scolding in English : if not, he was in danger of 
breaking down in the middle of his expostulations in 
a ludicrous manner ; or he would perhaps express him- 
self so funnily, that not only would the whole school 
be put in a roar, but even the culprit under reprimand 
has been known to fall from his seat and kick about 
on the floor in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, the 
unintended effect of solemn exhortations in broken 
Fiote. On the other hand, a little declamation in 
English usually produced an awed hush throughout 
the school, and the misdemeanant would look as if he 
never would dare to do the like again ! 

Common nouns were comparatively easy to get, 



TRANSLATION WORK. 37 

but verbs and words expressing abstract ideas very 
far from easy. Many of these last were only acquired 
after years of patient endeavour after them, or wait- 
ing for them to turn up. Even some quite ordinary 
words were not obtained until they had been sought 
for weeks. One missionary very soon got the word 
" to-morrow," but try all he would for a long time he 
was not able to get hold of ".yesterday," until one 
day quite accidentally he heard it, and was able to 
secure it. 

The tenses of the verbs were puzzling and easily 
mistaken. One of the missionaries, through systema- 
tically using a past tense which should only be used 
for things that have just happened, unwittingly gave 
the natives the idea that in some mystical sense Christ 
died for us every day. 

The discovery of any but the principal and ele- 
mentary rules of the grammar was a painfully slow 
process. The first attempt at a grammar was an 
elementary one by Rev. H. Grattan Guinness, which 
was published in 1882. This was soon after followed 
by a vocabulary of some three thousand words of the 
Palabala dialect by Rev. H. Craven, and two years 
ago Rev. W. Holman Bentley, of the English Baptist 
Mission, published a dictionary of the language as 
spoken at San Salvador, as well as some copious 
grammatical notes of very great value. 

Some translation work has also been accomplished. 
Besides "Peep of Day " (an outline of Bible history for 
children), the four Gospels, the First Epistle of John, 
most of Genesis, and twenty chapters of Exodus, have 



38 "MOTHER OF THE LAST BLUE BEADS." 



been translated by various members of the mission ; 
and quite recently the Acts of the Apostles has been 
rendered into Fiote by a native convert now studying 
in a college in America. 

As the language has been reduced, it has been 
found to be exceedingly rich in inflexions ; and owing 
to the native rule requiring all speakers at their 
" palavers " to employ only the highest class Fiote 
of which they are capable, the purity and integrity 
of the language has been remarkably preserved, at 
least in the interior. 

There are many difficulties in translation peculiar 
to Africa, or to a tropical climate. For instance, the 
people have no idea of ice or snow, and consequently 
have no words for them. Their sheep, as a rule have 
no wool, but hair ; and those which do have wool are 
black. In the interior they have not the least notion 
of the sea, and the only word that approaches the idea 
means the wide part of a river. They know, more- 
over, nothing of coin as currency, therefore Mr. 
Richards, in his version of Luke, has had to render 
the word " talents " in the parable as pieces of cloth. 
And in the verse where our Lord says : " Verily I say 
unto thee, Thou shalt in no wise come out until thou 
hast paid the uttermost farthing," " uttermost far- 
thing" has been rendered " mother of the last blue 
beads," which is the exact equivalent in the Congo 
language ! 

It is somewhat discouraging to remember, that 
much as has been done towards giving the gospel to 
the African, it is almost nothing to what yet remains 



AFRICAN DIALECTS. 



39 



to be accomplished. On the banks of the Congo and 
its tributaries alone, a considerable number of lan- 
guages are spoken, as distinct as French and Italian, 
and requiring separate translation work. It is true 
that the mastery of one language will assist greatly 
in the reduction of the rest, as they all belong to the 
great Bantu family; but each requires separate study, 
and hence the 
need of many 
students. May 
God thrust forth 
more labourers 
into this great 
harvest field ! 



H * /'"" 





The natives have usually passed 
through three distinct 
stages in relation to the 
gospel before they have accepted it ; viz. indifference, 
curiosity, and opposition. Each of these stages may 
have been of longer or shorter duration, and their 
order may not always have been exactly the same ; 
but as far as our observation extends, the work at 
each of the stations has passed through them all 
before there has been anything like a general appre- 
ciation of the truth. 



'foolishness: 4 i 



The first stage, indifference, extended over a long 
period of the early history of the Mission, and the 
cause is not difficult to discover. 

Here were a few white men, for some time unable 
to communicate their message except in a poor broken 
Fiote ; much of their time taken up in house-building, 
travelling, transport of goods, etc. ; often very sick, 
and seldom quite well ; knowing little of the manners 
and customs, modes of thought and prejudices of the 
people ; foreign in speech, dress, ideas upon every- 
thing, and especially upon religion ; of course un- 
believers in the traditions of their forefathers handed 
down from past generations, and wishful to supersede 
them by a religion that apparently forbad indulgence 
in almost all the chief pleasures and gratifications of 
life ! And when perhaps a little progress had been 
made, the white man's God had little attraction to 
the native mind ; for not only was He unable to 
keep them from being sick (the chief object of their 
own superstitious rites), but many of them had even 
been allowed to die. Where then was the advantage 
of such a religion as that, which was unable to help 
even its own propagators ? 

At first, indeed, apparently, interest was displayed 
but it was only apparent, or rather, it was in the 
white man, and not in his message. There was the 
utmost desire to be on good terms with him, but 
the greatest indifference as to his God. They would 
meet and listen patiently while he discoursed in such 
broken, strange Fiote, that sometimes they thought 
that it must be the language of the white man's 



42 GOD AND MAMMON. 

country to which they were listening ! They would 
shut their eyes while he talked with his own eyes shut, 
into the air it seemed, but the white man said it was 
to Nzambi, the great God ; and they would say Amen 
at the end of it all, with much unction and fervour, 
but no further would they go. And, indeed, many of 
them believed that this was as far as they were 
expected to go, and would relate to the missionary, 
as quite commendable, that on the previous Saturday 
night they had attended a fetish dance, but that 
this did not make them neglect the meetings for the 
worship of Nzambi, evidently thinking it possible to 
serve God and Belial at the same time. (Not the 
only people who have made this mistake since the 
world began !) 

But when at length they began to understand that 
God claimed nothing less than themselves, and would 
not be satisfied with anything they could do, they 
said quite candidly that that might be a good religion 
for the white man, but it was not suitable for the black 
man, w r ho had different customs altogether, and zvas 
in himself different. 

It was almost heart-breaking at times to go into 
the towns to preach, knowing that men, women, and 
children were hiding away, or to hear them make any 
excuse rather than listen to the word, or to see them 
standing listlessly by, as they patronisingly assented 
to the most heart- searching truths. Some would 
confess they were sinners, declare that they had re- 
pented, believed in Jesus, that they loved God with 
all their heart and soul, and were keeping all His 



KNOWN BY OUR FRUITS. 43 

commandments : and all the time we were morally 
certain their hearts were as dark as Satan and super- 
stition could make them. 

After this came the next stage — curiosity. 

The unanimity of the testimony of the Mindele 
mia Nzambi (God's white men — a name they gave 
to the missionaries) was one of the causes of this. 
" You all speak the same thing," they said on more 
than one occasion. " It doesn't matter which mission- 
ary it is that comes here, all tell us the same story." 

Then the lives of the missionaries, in contrast with 
those of many of the traders and others, impressed 
them. In Africa there must of necessity be very little 
private life. The white man has to be a "living 
epistle, known and read of all men," and it was 
especially so in the early history of the mission. Then 
almost every little word or act was watched, noted, 
and interpreted. Very little escaped their notice. 
Wherever we went, and whatever we did, there was sure 
to be a number of curious eyes and ears always open 
and ready to find in us anything inconsistent with our 
professed object in coming amongst them. And did 
we never fail then ? Our pitiful Father in heaven, 
who knoweth our frame, knows how often. So often, 
indeed, that the remembrance should cause much 
humbleness of mind ; and yet withal we have much 
cause to praise the grace that on the whole did keep 
us faithful and consistent under very trying condi- 
tions of bodily and spiritual life. 

There w r as also another cause of native curiosity 
which should not be left out of the account. It was 



44 



" THE WHITE MAN IS 




t^^^^^m 



NATIVE WOMAN HOEING. 



a sign given by God 
Himself, — rain sent in 
ansiver to prayer, and it 
attracted much atten- 
tion. 

The rainy season had 
come, but no rain ! The 
women had sown their 
seed, and the blade had 
appeared ; but as one 
month and then nearly 
another passed over, and 
not a shower visited the earth and watered it, the 
green shoot began to turn yellow, and the young 
crops flagged and drooped. Another month or two 
of such drought, and famine would be the consequence. 
In their distress they tried the rain fetish. 

One evening, as one of the missionaries was taking 
his usual walk, passing through the town, he heard 
the beating of a drum, and seeing one of the mission 
school lads, he asked what it meant, and was told 
that the people were to assemble that night and dance 
for rain. 

The missionary said to the lad : " But you know 
that will not bring rain, don't you ? " 
" Oh, yes, teacher, it will." 

"Nonsense ! How can beating a drum and dancing 
make the rain to fall ? If God wants it to rain, it 
will, but not otherwise." 

" Ah, well, teacher, you will see. Just notice now 
if it does not rain before to-morrow morning." 



STOPPING THE RAIN!" 45 



That evening walk was saddened by the conversa- 
tion held with the lad. How dark everything seemed ! 
After years of toil and prayer, not only were the 
people as much wedded to their superstition as ever, 
but even hopeful scholars of the mission school 
were still in gross darkness and believing lies. Alas ! 
this heathenism ! What a dreadful, real power it 
seemed to be ! When would the people be delivered 
from the bondage of its yoke ? " O God ! " groaned 
out the missionary, " forbid that Thy rain should fall 
in apparent response to their invocation of devils ! 
Keep back Thy clouds until they seek the blessing 
from Thee." 

That night and many others passed, and no rain 
came. Notwithstanding all the drumming and danc- 
ing, the clouds were obstinate, and w r ould not obey 
the most powerful spells. More than two months of 
the rainy season had now gone by, arid no drop of 
rain had fallen. Scarcity, disease, and death, such as 
the old men said had come upon the land in former 
days, seemed to be impending. But why was it? 
Who was the cause of the drought ? who was it that 
was hindering the rain from coming? The conver- 
sation of the boy with the white man was reported. 
Yes, that was it ! That was why their medicine-men 
could do nothing. The white man mas stopping the rain ! 

The news soon spread, " The white man it is who 
is stopping the rain," and the rage of the people — 
especially the women — was very great. Had it been 
one of themselves, and not a white man, his life would 
not have been worth many hours' purchase. But a 



46 TESTING THE WHITE MAN'S GOD. 

white man was different ! To kill him would mean 
bringing unknown dangers upon the whole com- 
munity. And, moreover, the king protected him ! 
Let Kangampaka protest then against this bad con- 
duct to the white man himself, and perhaps when he 
knows that he is found out he will let the rain come. 
The king thereupon sent his headman to the sus- 
pected missionary, and told him that all the people, 




A CONGO WOMAN. 



especially the. women, were very angry with him, be- 
lieving him to be keeping back the rain from them. 
The missionary replied that it was not he, but the 
people themselves. 

" How was that ? " 

"Just this way. God owns all the clouds, for He 
made them. Season by season He has sent the rain 
to you unasked, and you have had plenty to eat in 
all your towns. But who among you have ever once 



AN ANSWERED PRAYER. 47 



thanked Him ? Instead of doing that, you have 
done that which He abominates in praising and 
thanking your rain fetish." 

" What then shall we do, white man ? " 

Here was a most practical question ! How ought 
it to be answered ? There seemed to be but one way, 
and that to take up the challenge of the heathen chief 
in God's name. 

" Tell Kangampaka," replied the missionary, " to 
appoint a day for all the people to come together, 
and wait upon God to give them rain ; and if they 
come to Him with sincere hearts, and put away their 
fetishes, He will hear them." 

The answer came back very soon. " The words 
of the white man are good. The king appoints 
to-morrow." 

The morrow came, and the people flocked in large 
numbers to the little church, which was full to over- 
flowing ; chiefs and people from all the adjacent towns 
were there. After some exhortation prayer was offered, 
and the people dispersed. 

All through the rest of that day the missionaries 
agonised in prayer to God, and towards evening the 
answer seemed to be at hand, for thick, black clouds 
rolled overhead, but, alas ! dispersed again. 

It was a sore trial of faith, but still they prayed on, 
and gave the Lord no rest. Through that night they 
watched and prayed, and before the dawn of the next 
day the clouds came overhead again, and this time 
did not disperse until a glorious, refreshing shower 
had fallen upon the thirsty land. 



4 8 



INGRATITUDE. 



In -the morning the king himself came to the station 
and asked, " What shall we do now ? " 

" Come together again to thank God for what He 
has sent, and ask Him for more," was the reply. 

They came, but not nearly in such large numbers 
as at first. Alas poor human nature ! However 
public prayer was offered once again, and within a 
few hours more rain fell. During the evening how- 
ever the missionaries heard the noise of a drum in 
the town. What could it be ? Upon inquiry they 
found it was a dance in honour of the rain fetish ! 

It was some weeks before another shower of rain 
descended upon that plateau, but they had received 
an unmistakable sign from the Lord, unmistakable 
to all but the wilfully blind ; and now sufficient rain 
was sent to give them a second crop and prevent 
starvation. 



'" A "^ W /* - Ml 







NATIVES COMING FOR MEDICINE TO THE MISSIONARY S TENT. 



THE RAIN FETISH. 



49 




CHAPTER IV. 

T Banza Manteka a few weeks after- 
wards a like event occurred ; but 
in that case the natives them- 
selves asked to be allowed to 
meet and pray for rain, having 
doubtless heard what had taken 
place at Palabala. They met 
at the mission house, when Mr. 
Richards exhorted them to re- 
ceive the truth of God. Nkoiyo, 
a converted scholar, and Lutete, 
the first Banza Manteka convert 
(and the only one then), gave 
earnest exhortations to various 
little groups of the people both 
before and after the address. The 
people subsequently dispersed, and soon after the 
three missionaries and the two converts met in a 
room for united prayer to God for the rain ; and while 
the last prayer was being offered down it came, ful- 
filling that promise, " While they are yet speaking I 
will hear." 

As at Palabala however, that night the people 
drummed and danced in honour of the rain fetish, 
and it was long before another shower fell in that 
district. 

C. R, 4 



So PERSECUTION. 

In pondering these cases, it should be remembered 
that this drought came on in the wet season, when it 
usually rains at least every other day ; that at Pala- 
bala two months preceded and one month followed 
the two showers of rain there, while at Banza Manteka 
three months preceded and one month followed ; and, 
above all, it should be noted that the two showers 
in three months' drought and the one shower during 
four months' drought came at the time that special 
prayer was made for rain. 

But what was the spiritual outcome ? At the time 
perhaps nothing more than to lead the people from 
indifference to the gospel to curiosity with regard to 
it. But that was a great gain ! 

The stage of opposition to the work is a most 
hopeful one, for when the natives oppose, it is a sign 
that they are conscious of the power of the word 
preached, and dread its effect upon them should they 
continue to listen to it. As the harpooned whale 
rushes away from its intending captors and dives 
to the bottom of the sea, so at first the native under 
conviction of sin will go farther and farther away 
from the truth and sink deeper than ever into iniquity ; 
until at last, wearied of self and of sin, he gives up 
his struggling, and yields himself to the Lord. 

The opposition of the chiefs is usually of an 
insidious character. As at Palabala they will some- 
times pretend to be very desirous for the people to 
attend the preaching, but in reality will give them 
secretly to understand, that it is only those specially 
permitted who may attend the meetings. 



TRIAL BY POISON. 51 

At Mukimbungu however, where the first con- 
verts were baptized, the opposition has always been 
strong, and quite open, amounting at times to posi- 
tive persecution. 

On one occasion when I passed through Mukim- 
bungu, I found the brethren discussing what they 
should do in the event of the station being attacked. 
It appeared that the native chiefs had been raging 
against the converts, had actually put some of them 
to death, and had declared that on the following 
Sunday they would burn down the mission station 
and kill the missionaries. The ferocious character of 
these chiefs made it appear to be something more than 
an idle threat. However they were not allowed to do 
the Lord's servants any harm ; for Sunday passed by, 
and many another day, without anything more being 
heard of such an attack. 

The chiefs have seldom been known to kill the 
converts ostensibly on account of their religion, but 
they usually effect their purpose by a charge of 
witchcraft. Any one who displeases the chief, or who 
may be disliked in the town, is in danger of being got 
rid of in this way. One young man, an earnest 
Christian, lost all his relatives in this w r ay in a com- 
paratively short time, and himself only escaped the 
same fate by removing to another district. 

A noble instance of self-sacrifice occurred at 
Mukimbungu. Two sisters were very constant in 
their attendance of the meetings, and were hated by 
the heathen in consequence. At length the elder was 
accused of witchcraft, and had to take the poison 



52 



MURDER OF TWO SISTERS. 



water. She was a very weakly woman, and the 
probability was that she would not survive the ordeal, 
whether she vomited it (and thus established her 
innocence) or not. Knowing this, her younger sister 
came forward, and asked to be allowed to drink it 
instead of her sister. This, after some demur, w r as 
permitted. She drank, and vomited it ; but, alas ! 
it did not save either of them, for on some slight 




"the natives seemed excited." 



pretext they were both afterwards killed ! Cruel, 
cruel heathenism ! 

On some rare occasions the missionaries , lives have 
been threatened when they have gone to a town to 
preach, especially at Mukimbungu. Mr. Westlind 
went on one occasion to one of the towns there, 
taking with him several converts to give their testi- 
mony. A§ t soon as they entered the place they sa\y 



J 





MR. WESTLIND, 
Of MukimbungU) Swedish Mission Station on tJie Congo. 



53 



54 "I WILL KLLL YOU." 

something was wrong, for the people were running in 
every direction for their guns, and the chief made his 
appearance fully armed, and used very threatening 
language. The converts became excited, and a col- 
lision seemed imminent, when Mr. Westlind called 
out to the chief to know w r hat was the matter. He 
replied, " I will not have you preach in my town ; if 
you do, I will kill you." 

Mr. Westlind at once replied that he was told in 
God's book not to force people to hear if they did 
not wish, but to go away and leave them, shaking 
the very dust off from their feet as a testimony 
against them. " The next time I come will be when 
you send for me," said Mr. Westlind, and he left 
them. When I passed through Mukimbungu some 
little time after this, these people were debating 
among themselves, whether they should not send for 
the white man, to visit them once more. 

As stated before, it was at Mukimbungu that the 
first baptisms on the Congo took place. It would not 
be easy for us to forget the memorable day of the 
simple but most significant ceremony. The baptism 
of those first five converts from heathenism was a 
cause of joy, not only because of their individual 
deliverance from the bondage of darkness, but also 
because they were regarded as firstfruits, after the 
long years of toil, — firstfruits to Christ from Congo- 
land. 

It was a day we had longed and prayed for, while 
yet it seemed to be distant. We knew a blessing 
would come, but not whether we should be permitted 



FIRSTFRUITS. 55 



to witness it, or only our successors, when we were 
gone for ever. But now it was come ! 

How would the dear pioneers who sleep in Jesus 
have rejoiced to see that day — Telford and Petersen, 
Lanceley and McCall, and others ! Was it certain 
they were not present with us ? At least they 
rejoiced, for there was joy in the presence of the 
angels of God over these penitent sinners, as they 
turned from their devil worship to God, and publicly 
confessed their faith in the gospel. 

It seemed to us the dawn of a new epoch ! Hence- 
forth the conversion of multitudes of the heathen 
would be only a question of time ! The seed had 
begun to germinate, there would in due season be a 
crop. Each of these converts w T ould be a missionary, 
and all converted through them would in turn become 
missionaries too ! How much easier would be the 
work in time to come, when each w 7 hite missionary 
might be assisted by earnest native evangelists, men 
of the same colour and language as the people them- 
selves ! The heathen could not then regard the 
gospel as exclusively the white man's religion. In 
the salvation of these five converts from heathenism 
we had the earnest of Congo for Christ, and saw a 
marvellous work begun ! We praised God for what 
we believed He was going to do, as well as for the 
glad sight which our eyes witnessed. 

Within twelve months of this time a great awaken- 
ing took place in the district of BANZA MANTEKA- 
Mr. Henry Richards, who had founded the mission 
there, and had been sowing the good seed for years 




MR. HENRY RICHARDS, 
OF BANZA MANTEKA. 



56 



AN IMPORTANT STEP IN ADVANCE. SI 

with no slack hand, noticed a special interest in the 
word preached. The arm of the Lord had awoke. 
He was conscious that the Spirit of the Lord, in 
answer to much prayer, was upon him, to preach the 
gospel in such a way and with such success as he 
had not before seen in Africa. One reason for the 
change was possibly that his greater familiarity with 
the language enabled him to use it more freely and 
forcibly, and his more perfect knowledge of Congo 
life put him in a position to employ Congo illustra- 
tions, as windows to let the light in. He saw that in 
proportion as he did this his meaning was grasped, 
and his teachings felt as they had not previously 
been. 

When he went into the towns to preach, large 
numbers came to listen, and often when he had 
finished an address of an hour or an hour and a half 
in length, they would ask him not to go away, but 
tell them more. The interest increased and spread, 
until the people almost besieged the station ; from 
outlying districts they came also, bringing provisions, 
that they might stay and hear the word of God con- 
stantly. From morning till night Mr. Richards w r as 
engaged in preaching, teaching, and examining con- 
verts ; and this went on for w r eeks. So busy was he 
that he often had not opportunity even to eat. He 
contented himself with two daily meals, reluctant to 
spare time for a third. 

The conversions which took place seemed to be 
sound and satisfactory. A son of the old king 
Makokila was one of the first, and this greatly 



58 THE CONVERTED MEDICINE-MAN. 

displeased the nephew of the king, who, according 
to Fiote custom, would succeed the chief when he 
died. 

" Whatever is the matter with you ? " he said very 
angrily ; " I can't make it out "; and he went dow*n 
to the meeting in the evening in a great rage, intend- 
ing by his presence to prevent any more conversions. 
But the Spirit of God convinced him so powerfully 
of sin, that he too had to plead for mercy there and 
then, and soon found peace in believing in Jesus. 
The king's son was delighted, but could not help 
rallying him a little, saying in his turn, " Well, and 
whatever is the matter with you ? " " Oh !" replied he 
u I am so happy ! I understand it all now." 

Soon after this the gray-haired old chief himself 
(Makokila) surrendered his heart to God, and became 
a humble follower of the Lord Jesus ; for the power 
of the Lord was present to heal, even in very 
obstinate cases. 

One man had been exceptionally vile. He was a 
" medicine man," and had been a great deceiver of 
the people. Clearly stamped upon his face were the 
marks of the villain. He openly opposed the gospel, 
and tried to persuade the people not to listen to it, 
and often when Mr. Richards passed by him, on his 
way to preach, this man would spit after him in con- 
tempt, and curse him horribly. 

When I was visiting Banza Manteka, soon after 
the revival had begun, I saw this man on the path 
coming towards me. I knew him very well by sight, 
and said to myself, " Can this be the same man?" 




Tom, one of the Christian lads of the Mission, wearing the 
head-dress of a Congo witch-doctor. 



He hastened towards me, his face aglow with a light 
not of earth. From being one of the ugliest old men 
I ever saw, he had so changed as to be positively 
beautiful. Formerly he might have sat for one of 

59 



6o " YOU ALSO WILL LOVE JESUS .'" 



Dore's demons ; but now the peace of God that 
passeth all understanding lit up his countenance, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost made it radiant. He seemed 
to have saved body as well as soul, and I marvelled 
at the power of the grace which had transformed 
him, 

And not only men, but women and boys and girls 
in considerable numbers were brought under great 
concern for their souls. It was pitiable to hear the 
confessions that were made from time to time by 
mere lads, showing how old in vice they had already 
become ! Strange to say, some young cliildren gave 
the clearest and brightest testimony of having 
received salvation. 

One day a woman brought a very little girl to be 
examined as a candidate for baptism. Mr. Richards 
and I were surprised that one so young (she could not 
have been more than six or seven) should be brought 
as a candidate. 

" Do you think she understands ? " asked Mr. 
Richards. " Try her," said the mother quite confi- 
dently ; and we both plied her with questions, and were 
astonished at her answers. How wonderful it was! 
Only a few days before both mother and child were 
in heathen darkness and ignorance ; now a wonderful 
wisdom was given to this poor little lamb ! Some 
of the worldly-wise might have sat at her feet and 
learned lessons of priceless value. We said to each 
other in amazement, " This is the doing of God ! He 
is revealing His truth to babes — heathen babes ! " 

We commended the woman for endeavouring to 



BANZA MANTEKA CHRISTIANS. 61 

take her. children with her to heaven. She looked 
radiantly happy, and said, " Not only this one, but 
you also" (apostrophising an infant at her breast), "you 
also will give your heart to Jesus when you are old 
enough to know, won't you ? " 

Much care had however to be exercised in the 
receiving of candidates for baptism. Mr. Richards 
felt the responsibility to be very great. He knew 
how easy it was to be deceived by those who were 
really in earnest, but who were perhaps at the same 
time to some extent self-deceived. 

He decided to baptize at first only those of whom 
he was thoroughly confident, and of these to form 
a small Church, Afterwards they would help in the 
decision of the cases of other candidates, at least to 
the extent of judging of their outward conduct. This 
plan has been found to answer remarkably well, and 
it is the practice followed at each of the stations. 
No foreigner can know a native as well as a fellow 
native can. Their knowledge of each other is al- 
most complete, as even domestic life is lived quite 
openly, and there is no such thing as reserve or 
privacy. 

This carefulness in receiving candidates for baptism 
has made the Church growth slow. The Banza 
Manteka Church numbers now only a little over two 
hundred baptized believers, though the number of 
converts is much larger. At Mukimbungu, Lukungu, 
and Palabala there are also smaller Churches, bring- 
ing the number of baptized members to above five 
hundred. It might have been double this, but purity 



62 



" WILLINGLY OFFERED THEMSELVES:' 



and future usefulness have been sought rather than 
numbers, and rightly so. 

It will be asked, Of what quality are these con- 
verts ? Do they stand well ? Are they zealous for 
God ? Do they provoke one another to love and 
good works ? The answer is cheering. 

There have up to the present been w r onderfully few 
cases of backsliding or falling into open sin. The 
Churches in this respect will compare very favourably 
with average European or American Churches. 

The converts are also self-denying and zealous. 
They will go away for days from their homes and 
families to take the gospel to outlying districts, 
without any fee or reward, and entirely at their own 

charges. 

Some little time ago 
Dr. Gordon's Church, of 
Boston, Mass., U.S.A., 
gave an iron building 
capable of holding six 
hundred people to the 
Banza Manteka Church, 
on the condition that 
the members of the 
Church would carry it 
from the lower river. 
This they have done by 
a great amount of self- 
sacrificing toil. The 
loads numbered about 
seven or eight hundred, 




CHARACTER OF THE CONGO CHRISTIANS. 63 

and some of them were very heavy. The able- 
bodied men of the Church went down five or six 
times to Underhill, a distance of fifty-five miles, and 
brought back on their heads each time loads of at 
least sixty pounds weight ! The women and children 
of course were not able to do this, so they worked in 
their fields, sold their surplus stock of vegetables, and 
with the cloth gained they engaged other men to 
go and share in the transport on their behalf. The 
average value of the labour that each of these converts 
gave thus to the Lord would be between three and 
four pounds, no small contribution from poor native 
Congoese ! 

The converts as a rule are simple-minded and 
single-hearted. They sincerely love their Lord, and 
try heartily to obey Him. The contrast between 
their former heathen state and their present condition 
is so great, that they are constantly full of wonder 
and gratitude to God. They are not troubled with 
doubts and fears, but rely with the simplicity of chil- 
dren on the sweet promises of their Father God. 

One of the chiefs in a district near Lukungu (where 
there is a Church of believers) became converted 
through a man who was our cook for about twelve 
months. He had himself been led to Christ durine 
the stir that took place at Lukungu on the news of 
the awakening at Banza Manteka. The cook spoke 
to his chief about his soul and about the Saviour, 
creating an interest which brought him soon after- 
wards as an inquirer to the station, and resulted 
in his becoming a decided Christian. This chief in 



64 A CHILD HEALED BY FAITH. 

turn has been the means of the conversion of several 
others in his own town. He is, thank God ! a burn- 
ing and shining light wherever he goes. He en- 
deavours to live out the Lord's command, " As ye go, 
preach," for he is notorious as one " instant in season, 
out of season " in testifying for the Lord. 

A short time ago I received a letter from one of 
the converted lads, telling me of a remarkable circum- 
stance that had just happened in this man's town. 
His child was very sick, and it seemed to be unto 
death. Mayala, the chief, being much concerned, 
went to the mission station and procured medicine 
for him, and administered it, but without any satis- 
factory result. At last some of his people came to 
him, and Pegged him to take the child to the fetish 
house, but he refused. Still the child did not get 
better, but rather grew worse. At length the people 
fetched the medicine-man, but Mayala positively 
declined to allow him to interfere with his child, 
saying that he believed in the power of God. The 
people somewhat derisively replied, " We should like 
to see this power of God ! " "You shall see it" re- 
sponded Mayala. So entering his hut, he shut to 
the door, and prayed, and his " Father which seeth 
in secret," rewarded him openly. 

The sick child was outside the house under the 
verandah, and while his father was in the hut praying 
for him, he fell into a deep sleep. Still the father 
wrestled with God in prayer for his child, and the 
people gathered round in curious wonderment. At 
last Mayala received the ^ssurange he wanted, and 



" The Last shall be first:' 65 

he went outside his hut to the people. They were 
all expectation, and so zvas he ; and God, who has pro- 
mised that " the prayer of faith shall save the sick," 
raised the child up. He awoke, got up, and was 
soon playing about as if nothing had been the matter 
with him. 

Who taught Mayala this " healing by faith " ? The 
Holy Spirit of God. No one had taught him the 
doctrine. It was his own childlike interpretation of 
such promises as " what things soever ye desire when 
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 
have them." They led him to take his child's case to 
the Lord Himself, instead of to the medicine-man ; 
and the more so as he had already been to the dis- 
ciples, and they could not render him any help. He 
felt too that the very existence of Divine power had 
been challenged, and he asked God to show forth that 
power in the sight of the people. 

Sometimes when I have seen such men as these 
living earnest, consecrated lives, and walking by 
simple faith, I have thought : " Shall what the Lord 
has prophesied indeed come to pass, that the last 
shall be first, that the poor, dark, downtrodden 
Africans shall yet be called into the kingdom of 
grace, and through their child-like and whole-hearted 
reception of God's eternal truth become bright illus- 
trations of faith and devotion, in these last days of 
scoffing unbelief and Laodicean selfishness ? " 



C. R. 




MR. JOHN McKlTTRICK, OF BELFAST, 

Leader of the Congo- Balclo Mission. 



66 



CHAPTER V. 

A WALK IN BALOLOLAND. 
Recollections by Mr. J. McKittrick. 

For several months after reaching Wangata I 
waited in vain a favourable opportunity to visit a dis- 
trict said to be large and populous, twenty miles east 
of our mission station. The people told me of " big 
towns " up the Juapa, Ikelemba, and Lulonga rivers, 
and of Welu, a " strong chief/ 5 residing at a place 
called Bonsole. They would also often tell me of the 
land from which their fathers came, saying with an 
air of pride, " We are few and weak here," meaning 
on the banks of the Congo between Wangata and 
Ikengo ; "but we are very many and very strong 
away yonder," pointing southward. 

Wishing to know more of the Balolo, I decided to 
visit Bonsole, and made arrangements to have our 
canoe cleaned and prepared for the trip. Whilst 
Bojuela was engaged in making ready the canoe, I 
went to see how he was getting on. A man came to 
the landing stage and asked where the white man was 
going ; returning, he told his townsfolk, most of whom 
came out a few minutes later to hear the news. 

" Where are you going, Bondele ? " inquired a 

67 



68 A JOURNEY TO BON SOLE. 

spokesman of the people, a good-natured fellow called 
Ngolo, observing the preparations. 

" To Bonsole," I replied. 

" All right, Bondele ; if you bring your rifle, and 
agree to fight with the Boluke, we'll go with you ; but 
if not, we won't," said Ngolo frankly. 

" I'll take my rifle, but I can't fight ; you know that 
I am a man of peace," I replied decidedly. 

" We know you are a coward, Bondele ! " said he 
laughing ; " so we won't go by water. But we'll go 
overland with you if you like, and carry your things 
for you." 

" All right ; that will do just as well. We will get 
off to-morrow morning." 

They occupied themselves the rest of the day in 
making ready, and next morning we started. Taking 
the Inganda road, which led us through a large 
district of the same name, and keeping down the 
right bank of the Congo for about five miles, we soon 
turned off into the Bonsole and Bolenge track. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the towns 
and the number of their inhabitants in the prosperous 
district through which we walked, and could not help 
saying to myself, "Here I have lived at Wangata all 
these months ignorant of the thousands of this highly 
favoured Inganda ! " But till one has more or less 
of the language, even local exploration is difficult. 
We wended our way over elevated land, through 
large plantations and clearings, covering a vast tract 
of country, which must have taken many years to 
reclaim from the virgin forest and bring under cul- 




GAME AND WILDFOWL ON AN AFRICAN RIVER. 
6 9 




FOREST COVERED BANKS OF THE CONGO. 

tivation. Then we descended into a dense wooded 
swamp, where I had to divest myself of boots and 
socks, and splash through water and mud ; several 
heavy tornadoes, a day or two before, having so 
flooded the road that in some places the water was 
knee deep. Yet even here, strange to say, though 
the trees grow thick and tall, w r ith innumerable 
creepers and thick underbush between, I perceived 
none of the offensive malarious odour, so common in 
the thickets of the Lower Congo. 

Swampy valleys like this alternated with ridges 
throughout our twenty-mile walk. We were going 
south, so the watery vales we kept crossing ran 
parallel to the Congo, and some of them were of 
sufficient depth to form tortuous channels of water. 



WANDOU!" "HAIL, KING!' 



7i 



According to native report, one of these channels 
leads from the Juapa River to Lake Matumba, and 
by it the Boluke traders are said to go down to Irebu 
and Ngombe, when there is war in the neighbourhood 
of, or at the mouth of the Juapa. I have little doubt 
that such a channel exists, and if so Wangata is 
built on a great island, and not on the mainland. 

About noon we reached a town called Bompafu, an 
outlying portion of Inganda, where resides an old and 
influential chief. We did not halt here, but, seeing 
the old man as we passed, my men saluted him, bow- 
ing almost to the ground, and clapping their hands 
as they cried out, " Wandou /" " Hail, king ! " 

On again through the forest after a lunch of dried 
fish and cassava. About four in the afternoon we 
reached the outskirts of Bonsole, where I found the 
main entrance to the place barricaded and carefully 
guarded by a few watchmen. The barricade, which 
consisted of the end of a house placed across the 
entrance and secured to a number of upright poles, 
was owing to hostilities with the people of another 




YALULINA NATIVES. 



72 UNDER THE PALM TREES. 



district, which were fortunately suspended for the time. 
An aperture in the end of the house thus placed in 
the road was the only entrance, and by no means an 
easy one, measuring about three feet by one and a half. 
After exchanging presents with an elder, we walked 
through the town. The people were very civil ; the 
children flocked out to see the white man ; the little 
fellows would run past me, and then wait in the path 
to take a good look at my white face as I came for- 
ward, and then hastily scamper off. I do not know 
that I have seen finer or more lively boys, bright, 
smiling, well fed, and clean, just what all lads should 



A ROYAL AUDIENCE. 



73 



be ! It was near sun-down when we reached Welu's 
residence. He was absent when I arrived; but his son 
hastened to give me a kind welcome, and to show me 
the hut in which I was to stay. Here I was glad to 
rest my weary limbs ; but, alas ! it was not for long. 
Young Welu soon came to say that it was a custom 
among them that strangers should sit outside, so that 
all the people may have an opportunity of looking at 
them. Yielding to his persuasive eloquence, I went 
out, and took up my seat beneath the palms, and re- 
signedly made myself 
a public gazing stock 
for fifteen or twenty 
minutes. 

I then learned that 
I was to receive a 
present from the king, 
and was of course 
expected to make a 
handsome one. in re- 
turn. For this I was 
prepared. After tak- 
ing a little food ac- 
cordingly, I was sum- 
moned forth once 
more, but this time 
to a very formal and 
imposing audience, 
for which elaborate 
preparations in the 
way of hair-dressing 

HAIR-DRESSING/' 




74 AN AFRICAN ALBINO. 

and personal decoration had evidently been made. I 
was seated in the midst of a large, representative 
assembly of men and women, which had been sum- 
moned by drum. A goat was brought (bound), and 
laid at my feet ; fowls, palm nuts, plaintains, and a 
dish out of which to take food were also given. Welu 
made an effective speech. When it was over I pro- 
duced my " dash," — a brass helmet and a piece of 
savelist. Welu looked gloomy ! I then produced 
some beads and cowries, some spoons and forks, and 
a plate ; and forthwith the cloud was replaced by the 
broad grin of satisfaction, so often seen on similar 
occasions on the countenances of these " children of a 
larger growth " in Central Africa ! 

Strolling later on through the town, I was told that 
in one quarter of it there resided a white woman just 
like myself ! On reaching the place, I saw an albino 
with a child in her arms. " Is she not white ? " said 
they ; " like the Englese wo talu-tale " (the English- 
man of length, a name by which they called me owing 
to my stature). 

She was an unnatural looking creature, like neither 
African nor European, with light complexion, red 
eyes, and a peculiar expression of face. She did not 
enjoy being likened to the white man, and soon re- 
treated into a house. 

I had my accordion with me, and it quickly 
gathered a crowd. Seating myself on a log of wood, 
I played a few hymn-tunes. Our boys who were 
with me would sometimes sing the hymns, but on 
this occasion the little fellows were shy. An old 



A SUPERABUNDANCE OF "CHOP." 75 

dame called out to her little grandchild in the crowd 
" Come away ! come away from the spirit ! " Some 
of the men laughed, but some looked serious. It 
would never do to have the story that I was "a 
spirit " go abroad, as it would block my way every- 
where. But how disprove the assertion ? I pulled 
up my jacket, unbuttoned my shirt sleeve and bared 
my arm. Then extending it I said : " Feel that ! is it 
not flesh and bone? A spirit has not these!" A 
laugh against the old lady went round, and the people 
were re-assured. It was hard to get away from them. 

On my way back I was stopped at the house of an 
old chief, and entreated to begin again to play the 
instrument. The kind women had ready for me on 
our return such an abundance of dainty dishes of 
their own preparation, that I had an emb arras de 
richesses. Matron after matron arrived, each bearing 
a vessel carefully covered with a plantain leaf, bound 
on with a cord, to exclude dust and insects. There 
was food enough for a week and to spare. What was 
I to do ? My men, seeing such a superabundance of 
" chop," volunteered their services, and I was saved 
all further trouble ! The vessels were speedily ready 
to be returned to their owners. 

As I was anxious to see the whole district, I started 
again the following morning, accompanied by Bojuela 
and one or two of our schoolboys, in the opposite 
direction. Our way led, for the most part, through a 
succession of villages, without any protection from the 
sun. By the time we reached the extreme end of the 
"town" our clothes were tolerably well saturated! 



76 NATIVE INDUSTRIES. 

The villages of this part of the country are situated 
on a high ridge of land. The soil, which in the forests 
is of deep alluvium, is exceedingly rich and fertile, as 
seen by the luxuriant abundance that everywhere 
meets the eye. Food is much cheaper hereabouts 
than at Wangata, for the people attend more to agri- 
culture than do those nearer the river. Maize and 
mandioca are the principal crops, and flourish every- 
where. Much attention is given to the cultivation 
of the sugar cane, which grows to an extraordinary 
height and thickness, and is exceedingly sweet and 
juicy. Large patches of it are met with near the 
towns for convenience, the other fields being as a rule 
farther removed from the dwellings. 

Even the old people are not without a local indus- 
try ; they engage in grinding camwood, which is 
carefully prepared and forwarded to Ikango, Inganda, 
and other places, whence it is taken by native mer- 
chants to tribes as far down the river as Stanley Pool. 
This wood is found in great abundance in the forests 
of the interior, and when ground into powder and 
prepared, is used for dyeing purposes ; it imparts a 
rich and beautiful crimson. It is used by the natives 
as a cosmetic also. 

On the whole, the people in this neighbourhood 
seemed more superstitious than their neighbours, and 
less kindly disposed towards Europeans. This may 
have arisen from the losses that they had sustained 
from their recent battle with the Bandaka. One of 
the deceased warriors had been a man of considerable 
standing in his town, so they were about to have a 



HEARING THE GOSPEL FOR THE FIRST TIME. 77 

human sacrifice at his funeral. But the chief, whose 
guest I was, brought the matter before his counsellors, 
and it was decided to postpone the ceremony till I 
was gone ; for, said he, " the white man does not like 
to hear of people being killed." The victim was 
marked out and possibly bound ; but the execution, 
which they carry out w r ith terrible barbarity, was post- 
poned in deference to me, an illustration of the effect 
of the mere presence of a white man among these 
people. 

On reaching what is called the ntiindu, or the end 
of the village, I was led a little way beyond the houses 
to a high palisade, which — securely fastened and 
carefully guarded at night — is used as a sort of citadel 
in case of attack. The people soon flocked round me; 
but, oh ! how miserable they seemed when compared 
with the inhabitants of other villages ! how timid 
and fearful ! 

In Africa the state of uncertainty and insecurity 
created by war ruins a village very quickly. Owing 
to the frail nature of the houses, from the perishable 
building material used, decay sets in immediately, 
unless the buildings are kept in constant repair. 
Dilapidated houses, and others fast falling into ruin, 
meet the eye on all sides in this unhappy place. 

To the best of my ability I tried to tell them of 
the Friend and Saviour of sinners. They seemed inte- 
rested, the story was new to them. It was the first 
and only occasion on which they heard the name of 
Jesus, but the gospel which Christ committed to His 
disciples will, please God, before long overthrow all 



7% THE CHARM OF MUSIC, 

their superstitions, and save them from their sins and 
sorrows ! Such is our hope and expectation. 

On our way back I stopped at a place where a 
goodly number of leading men had assembled to 
discuss a question, which, judging from the numbers 
present, must have been of some considerable import- 
ance. They were seated in a quiet spot by the wayside 
under the shade of a few friendly banana trees. Most 
of them were well armed, as is usual in this part of the 
interior, where all men when travelling are armed 
to the teeth. I was again called upon to " kunda 
u'sauge" play the instrument ; and taking my seat in 
the midst of the wise men of Bonsole, I succeeded in 
interesting them for a considerable time. One big 
fellow was captivated with the music, and insisted on 
handling the accordion for himself, to see that there 
was nothing supernatural about it. 

We inspected afterwards several of the troughs in 
which the sugarcane is reduced to a pulp. The 
trough is divided into two parts, the smaller is narrow 
at the bottom, and in this the sugarcane is pounded ; 
the other is much larger, and as wide at the bottom 
as at the top. In this the cane is steeped for some 
time before pressing and straining into huge earthen 
jars, in which it is carefully covered up. The remains 
of the woody substance create fermentation, and in 
a few days it is ready for use. When fresh it is a 
pleasant and wholesome drink, and not intoxicating. 

Farther on we came to a part of the village which 
had evidently once been more thickly populated. On 
the site of a house there were heaped up a number of 




a n'guma-bayansi. 

b NATIVE OF URINDI. 
C TYPE OF MABUNGU. 
d, d MEN SMOKING ELAND-HORN PIPES. 



8o MURDER OF SLAVES AT KING'S FUNERAL. 

earthenware vessels. They looked red, as if the house 
had been burned over them. A solitary and large 
hut stood near ; in front of it, on the other side of the 
street, was a pole about three feet high, with a human 
skull of extraordinary size on the top. 

The earthenware, the burned hut, the skull, and the 
deserted appearance of the place, all combined to tell 
the sorrowful tale. The chief had been carried off by 
death, and the skull on the pole was that of the poor 
victim who had been sacrificed at his funeral. These 
human sacrifices used to be of frequent occurrence at 
Wangata, but are now forbidden by the Congo Free 
State. They are continued still, however, at Inganda, 
and all over the interior. 

My men were by this time anxious to start home- 
wards, and though Welu would fain have detained 
us longer, I thought it best to leave the interesting, 
good-natured people of Bonsole. I had proved that 
a missionary would be welcomed in that district, and 
that the people would even be proud to entertain 
him. I had learned that the banks of the great river 
are by no means the most populous or desirable 
locality for mission stations, though in some respects 
the most convenient. But they give access to the 
great interior, and oh the immensity of that field ! 

My men got the start of me, and at a forest village 
on the outskirts of the Bonsole district were stopped 
by an attempt of the local chief to levy blackmail. 
But even in these wild regions there is a measure of 
law, and this man Eanga knew that he, in trying to 
demand a price for permission to pass, was breaking 



A CONGO FOREST. 



Si 




native Law. It was only a 
fowl he wanted ; but without 
this tax he would not let my 
man carrying the goat pass. 
I resolved not to pay what 
was an unfair demand ; so 
leaving the goat and all the 
rest of Welu's presents, I 
ordered him to carry them 
back to the chief and explain. 

We had not got far on 
our way before, first young 
Welu and then his father, 
came up breathless, angry, 

excited, apologising for the insult, and threatening 
that unless I would overlook it and take the present 
with me, Eanga and all his must perish ! Of course 
we yielded, obtaining a promise that no harm should 
come to the culprit. 

After parting from Welu, we continued for some 
time crossing densely wooded high land, but then 
gradually descended inwards to a forest swamp — a 
" dismal swamp " indeed ! The path was thick with 
mud and dead vegetation ; we felt the slippery net- 
work of roots underneath, making the road most diffi- 
cult, while stately forest monarchs towered high over- 
head, creating a perpetual semi-darkness. Young trees 
and bushes strove for the mastery below, and owing 
to the thickness of the foliage the sun's rays scarcely 
ever penetrate this grim solitude. Here the eagle, the 
hawk, and other large birds make their homes, and 

C R, 6 



82 DISCOURTEOUS TREATMENT. 

their voices alone, as they are roused by the foot- 
steps of the traveller, disturb the stillness. The place 
is such that the leopard could scarcely make his lair 
in it, as the ground is for the most part under water. 
We were thankful to emerge on drier ground. 

As we approached Wangata, the men tried, before 
entering the town, to make themselves as neat and 
clean as circumstances would permit. I resolved to 
pass the night at the house of an old chief, whom 
I had met on a former occasion at our station. He 
seemed somewhat disconcerted by my arrival at first, 
and proposed giving me very poor accommodation for 
the night — an old cook house, which, though it had a 
good roof, boasted no walls. Telling mymen to have 
my things placed inside, I sat down among the 
people ; but my two confidential friends, Boyela and 
Eakola, soon came and whispered, " White man, these 
people are thieves, and if you stay in this place you 
will lose your things." 

" Well," I replied, " the chief told me to stay in it. 
You had better tell him that if anything is stolen I 
shall hold him responsible." 

He soon returned and said, " Come along, Bondele ; 
you shall stay in another house," and I was pleased 
to find that a room in the chiefs own house had been 
appointed for me. His residence consisted of three 
rooms, one of which was occupied by the mother and 
little ones, the other one by the father and older 
members of the family, whilst the centre apartment 
was appointed for me. 

When it grew dark bright fires were lighted outside. 



ONLY ONE WHITE MAN AMONG SO MANY!" 83 



the surroundings were illuminated by bonfires, and 
a torch of gum-copal, which had been placed in the 
centre, served as a flambeau. The people all engaged 
in the dance, and one of my men was the leading 
spirit of the revel, his song could be heard above all 
the rest. I was watching them, and overheard one of 
the onlookers say to his fellow in the crowd, " How is 
it that this man is not afraid ? he is only one white 
man among so many ! " It was the very town where 
Bolesi the slave, whom I had ransomed five or six 
months before, had been so cruelly treated ; but I 
was about my Master's business, and feared no evil. 

Giving my host a fathom of cloth in return for his 
kindness, we were starting early next morning, when 
to my surprise several of the principal men grouped 
themselves on the street in front of us. They ap- 
peared anxious to make a lasting friendship, and 
insisted on my accepting a present of three or four 
goats. I told them I had nothing in the shape of a 
return present, and therefore could not take their 
gift ; but as they insisted, I arranged that they should 
bring their presents to Wangata, which they did most 
willingly. 

This place is called Upper Wangata, and must con- 
tain I think not less than two thousand inhabitants, 
The houses are oblong in shape, fairly and well built 
and arranged on either side of the street in admirable 
order. The country between this town and the 
Congo is not swampy, but covered with a dense 
forest. Half a day's brisk march brought us to our 
own station. 



8 4 "N'KO JOL" 



The cannibalism of the Balolo is not quite so 
revolting as that described on the Mobangi, and in 
other parts of the Congo Free State. As far as I 
was able to observe or ascertain, human flesh is not 
bought and eaten merely for food. It is eaten, but 
mainly as a superstitious rite connected with funerals. 

When an old chief thinks his end draws nigh, he 
calls together his family relations and slaves, appoints 
the disposition of his wives and property, and men- 
tions the slaves who are to be slain at his interment. 
As each name is called aloud, the destined victim of 
superstition replies, " N'ko joi " (I care not). Then 
addressing himself to his nearest relation, the old 
man, striking one hand on the other, adjures them to 
carry out this last injunction, saying, " If these die 
not, may ye all die ! 5) 

Such is the force of custom and the cruelty of 
superstition, that the poor, ignorant people feel as if 
they had no voice. The murders must follow the 
death. 

As soon as the old man is gone, and before any 
death wail is raised, a quiet search is made for the 
foredoomed men or women, who are bound fast in 
a place of safety and starved till the day of execution, 
the mode of which we have described elsewhere. 
The body of the victim is at once divided, cooked, 
and eaten. The head is taken down from the tree, 
soaked till the skull is cleaned of flesh, and stuck up 
on a pole before the dead man's house. 

In the case of great chiefs, children are killed and 
buried in the grave. The Balolo are in this respect 



CANNIBALISM. ^ 



fearfully cruel. The boys are stuffed with food, 
especially prepared by the relations of the late chief, 
and led forth to the slaughter. Strong creepers like 
ropes from the forest are secured round their necks. 
A man climbs a tree ; when high enough he seeks a 
firm foothold, and then raises the victim from the 




ground — higher and higher, till the rope is suddenly 
let go and the child killed by the fall, or not killed, 
as the case may be. If not, the mangled victim is 
brutally beaten to death ! 

It would be considered a proof of the utmost 
disrespect to omit these horrible customs ; the family 



S6 "HABITATIONS OF CRUELTY:' 



doing so would lose all social standing, and become 
the jest of the community. 

Conceive it if you can, English Christians ! All 
through the towns and villages of the ten millions 
of Balolo, these horrors are being continually enacted, 
and worse horrors still in many parts of the Congo 
Free State. Death is bad enough anywhere ; but 
death in Congoland when the deceased is above the 
rank of slave is invariably followed by murder, and 
often by many murders. Tens of thousands of such 
murders must take place each year. The law forbid- 
ding them in the Congo Free State can be enforced 
— as yet — at comparatively few points only. 

Observing grown men suddenly hiding themselves 
behind trees, under bushes, or otherwise, without any 
apparent reason, I one day inquired the cause, and 
found it was because the man's mother-in-law had 
come in sight. " But why should a big man hide 
away from a woman ? " I asked. " O Bondele ! he 
ashamed ! " " Ashamed ! of what ? " " He afraid 
too !" " Afraid ! how so?" Then I learned that for 
a man to face his mother-in-law is esteemed a breach 
of the Balolo laws of marriage, and that a woman so 
insulted would bring a charge against her son-in-law 
before the elders of the town, who would inflict heavy 
damages ! " Bondele," said Bompole to me one day, 
soon after his arrival at Harley House, "doctor's 
mother-in-law come here, he run away ? " " No, 
my boy, no ! " said I, laughing at the idea. " Oh ! you 
no do so ? " he replied gravely ; then catching the fun 
of the notion, he laughed too. But many of our 



BALOLO MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 



87 



customs seemed as strange to him as Balolo usages 
had done to me. 

Unless for a very serious offence a husband does 
not put away his wife, if she is a free woman. Her 
friends possess the dowry or price he paid for her, 
and unless he can get that back he will not part with 
her ! If she wishes to leave her husband, and her re- 
lations consent, the dowry is returned, and she is free. 
Even in the case of a slave wife — one bought with 




money, not betrothed with dowry — the husband can- 
not, without some grave charge against her, sell her 
again. The elders of the town expostulate, if they 
hear he has any desire to do so, try to moderate 
his displeasure, and show that she is really valuable 
to him. He may not be persuaded, but few care to 
oppose the chief men of the district, and thus many 
disputes and misunderstandings are settled without 
separation. 

The Balolo quite understand family life, and the 



88 FAMILY LIFE. 



women are really industrious and domestic. Their 
daily life is simple and natural. The wives and chil- 
dren start early for the fields or gardens, often at 
a distance from the village, and work diligently till 
noon, clearing, weeding, hoeing, planting, or reaoing, 
as the case may be. At noon they take a mid -day 
meal, and rest, resuming toil afterwards. Towards 
evening they return to their houses, carrying large 
bundles of firewood, should there be a scarcity round 
the village, and then they prepare the evening meal, 

Unlike the people on the Lower Congo, each father 
takes his seat in the centre of the family group c 
wives and children, frequently with the younges 
child on his knee, and he divides the fish or meat, 
while the wives distribute the other food. I have 
often shared such pleasant evening meals with Balolo 
families. 



CHAPTER VI. 



A CHAT WITH MR. RICHARDS, OF 
BANZA MANTEKA. 



WANT you to tell me something about the 
African Christians. You were labouring 
some years, I think, before you had any 
converts ? 

Yes ; six years more or less ! Of course 
I had at first to build and plant and get 
acclimatized. Then I had to learn the lan- 
guage—no easy task when you have no 
teacher and no books. It was years before 
I could understand and enjoy hearing it, 
and before I could use it with any power. 

Yes, of course ! And you had illnesses 
and deep sorrows ? 

I had. God blessed them to me. On my 
first visit to England on account of health 
ras greatly exercised about the apparent lack 
I felt I must be blessed 
And when I got 
A great 




I w 

of blessing in Africa, 
f I was to be made a blessing. 
back my one desire was for converts. 



\ earning for souls took possession of me. I could not sleep 
for it sometimes, and had to pray God to take it away, for it 
was consuming me. But there was no sign of blessing. I 
resolved to go elsewhere if the word bore no fruit at Banza 
Manteka. But first I asked myself what was the fault ? I 
was preaching the truth, and the people listened ; but they 
did not seem to feel in the least. 

Yet you were in earnest, were you not ? 

Dead in earnest ! But as I read I began to see I had been 

8 9 



90 THE MISSIONARY'S FIRST WORK. 

trying the wrong way to do good to the heathen. I had been 
much occupied with many things, and the one great thing to 
which a missionary should devote himself mainly, if not exclu- 
sively, preachings had not been made prominent enough. It is 
so easy in Congo to get distracted. There is so much to do. 
Building, planting, ordinary business of various sorts, learning 
the language, teaching, writing, travelling, — all these things are 
apt to squeeze the preaching into a corner. 

I can easily understand that ! Congo is like England in that 
respect. 

Ay ! but the consequences are more serious there. Preaching 
— "the foolishness of preaching" — is God's one great ordinance 
for the salvation of men. When the revival came I was no 
longer satisfied with occasional services and regular Sunday 
work. I gave myself to preaching daily— twice a day. One 
year I preached seven hundred times. And the people don't 
care for short sermons. They like a full hour or hour and a 
half, They have so much to learn. 

But surely people could never attend so many and such long 
meetings ? 

Ah ! but they do. I asked them to choose their own time. 
They fixed one o'clock, when all their field work is done and 
they have had their mid-day meal. And again, later in the 
evening, they come freely and eagerly. But they like to hear 
the same teacher. Changes put them out very much, for they 
do not gain confidence all at once. They want the same voice, 
and the same thing taught over and over again. They learn 
only from the preacher, at first at any rate ; not, as here, from 
books and from intercourse. The preaching consequently should 
be daily, and, if possible, two or three times a' day. Weekly 
preaching is no use ; it is all forgotten before the next service. 

But a missionary must do other things. He must teach the 
school, for instance. 

No ! that is mere waste of time at first. When the people 
are converted, then have schools for the Christians, that they 
may learn to read the word of God and teach it in their turn 
But preaching with a view to conversion, immediate conver- 
sion, this is God's commandment and this is the missionary's 



CONVERSION, THE FIRST STEP. 91 



work— his prime, principal, paramount, peculiar duty. If you 
want schools, send out teachers ; but missionaries go to make 
converts. 

But when people are converted they need teaching ? 

Undoubtedly. That is the object of our incessant meetings. 
We have to teach them to observe all things that Christ has 
commanded ; and I assure you it takes a lot of teaching to do 
that among the Congoese ! We want to get the converts ready 
to be in their turn teachers and preachers as quickly as possible. 
As regards the Christians, it is teach, teach, teach, all the time. 
They soon learn more than you would think. The Spirit of 
God seems to make them intelligent. They learn to read fast ; 
they open little schools in other villages to teach their own 
townsfolk to do the same. They send their children to school 
too fast enough as soon as they are converted — though before 
we had actually to ransom slave children in order to get a 
school at all. The heathen want to be paid for coming to 
school. 

Yes ! conversion makes all the difference. What truths did 
you find most fitted to awaken attention and touch the heart ? 

Ah ! that is the core and kernel of the whole thing. I went 
to work the wrong way at first. My first idea was to teach the 
heathen the folly of idolatry and superstition, the nature of 
God, about His will as expressed in the law, about duty and 
morality and such things, as well as about Christ, His words, 
His miracles, and parables, His death and resurrection. But 
I found it all no use. At the end of six years I had not a 
convert. 

Well ? 

Then in bitterness of spirit I prayed and searched the Scrip- 
tures, and noted what the apostles did, and began to follow 
their example. 

But surely they did all the things you just named. 

Afterwards ! But they did something else first. They 
preached Christ and Him crucified ; they made people feel 
their guilt in killing and rejecting Him, in not resembling Him, 
in not caring for and coming to Him. They kept to the one 
point, and Christ Himself bade them do so. They were to 



92 EVIDENCES OF THE NEW CREATION. 

proclaim repentance and remission of sins through Him ! Not 
a hundred things. One thing — Christ and Him crucified. 

Yes, and you were trying to lead up to that, to prepare the 
people to appreciate the gospel. 

Ay ! But when I gave up all leading to it, and preached that^ 
day by day and week by week, then I speedily saw a glorious 
change ! Then I had proof that Paul was right, when he said 
that it is the gospel itself that is the power of God to salvation. 
I don't go into the philosophy of the thing, but I saw the facts ; 
and I think facts are more convincing than philosophy. When 
once I took this ground, and charged the people with sin for 
not believing in Christ, and urged that He was the only Saviour, 
and ready to save them then and there, then I felt clothed 
with power, and that it was the Spirit of God who spoke through 
me. 

And what were the results ? 

Heart-cheering ! Marvellous ! The stolid, stupid people 
waked up. I saw looks and whispers, and nudges between 
neighbours, astonishment, eager interest, and soon conviction 
and shame, tears of penitence ; restless desire to hear, more 
shame, alarm, and very soon I was assailed on all sides with 
the question, " What must I do to be saved ? " I was alone 
most of the time, and positively I had no time, no, not so much 
as to eat some days. The whole place and the country-side 
was in a stir. I had to neglect all else ; I was preaching, and 
dealing with inquirers all day long. And soon the converts 
were numbered by hundreds. 

What proof had you they were real converts, that the move- 
ment was not one of mere excitement ? 

Every proof I could desire, or that you would desire here. 
The people loved Christ and obeyed Him. They began to 
love their Bibles, or rather such portions of Scripture as they 
had. They cared for nothing compared to worship and prayer. 
They began to bear witness for Christ among their people. 
They cheerfully endured persecution, and risked their lives for 
the sake of their new faith. The thieves — and they are all 
thieves to begin with — became honest ; the liars — and lying was 
customary — became truthful ; the women became modest, and 



THE CLOTHES QUESTION. 93 

wanted dresses directly they were converted. I remember one 
who, as soon as she had received Christ and was rejoicing in 
Him, said to the sister who had been evangelizing her, " But 
now I want some clothes ; I don't like having my skin outside ! n 

Poor dear woman ! But do the Christians then dress like 
we do ? 

Oh, no ! we should be very sorry to urge that. I greatly 
object to any attempt to Europeanise Africans. Africans they 
are, and Africans they must continue in all their habits and 
customs. But the dress of the heathen is not sufficient either 
for decency or comfort, and the Christians, poor as they are, 
invariably manage to cover themselves. The husbands do all 
the sewing in Congo, and Christian husbands soon make their 
wives a dress, or get them a cloth. The women like dresses j 
that is, garments made like a nightgown with a good deep yoke 
for the neck and a band, and coming down to the ankles. 
When we have such, we give them, but we get very few ! My 
wife is very anxious to take back a good stock. They should 
be made of strong stuff like dusters, blue checked cloth which 
we call " domestics " and use for trade. 

Do they like that better than dark prints of various colours ? 

Well, at present the women have not seen those, and, like ladies 
here, they wish to be in the fashion, not peculiar. They don't 
like to be looked at. If everybody wore print they would. like 
it. If you can get us a number of dresses made, all alike, it 
would not much matter what sort of calico was used. Only 
as the women sit at times on the ground, light or white dresses 
would soil quickly. 

What do the men wear ? 

Generally a cloth round the legs and waist, and a loose jacket 
or smockfrock, something like a shirt, outside. We often sell 
them shirts for the purpose. I hate to see an African in 
trousers ! They suit us, but they spoil them ! And they never 
keep them in good order. 

Do they feel the heat as you do ? 

Yes, so much so that when carrying — toiling in the sun up steep 
hills with loads on their heads — they perspire most copiously. 
Then of course they divest themselves of their garments, as 



94 



•DIFFERENCE IS ONLY SKIN BEEF." 




CARRYING. 



do the women while they work in the fields. But the mornings 
and evenings are chilly, and garments are a comfort. If the 
thermometer does not stand above jo° the people shiver and 
say, " How cold it is ! " 

Those dear converts of whom you speak, — can you love them 
and feel to them as you would to English fellow Christians ? 

Oh ! precisely. They ai'e exactly like us inside; the dif- 
ference is only skin deep ! They are intensely sincere. What 
is in comes out ! There are no restraints of any kind — no 
delicacy or consideration or deference to public opinion or con- 
ventionalities, of course. A man in the audience, if he does 



1 WHITE PEOFLE A CTUALL Y LOVE EA CH THER ! » 95 



not agree with my conclusion, or follow my explanation, will 
exclaim,-" Oh, I don't think so," or, " I don't see that at all" ; 
or if one is teaching any special duty, he will object, " Then 
why did you do so and so ? " But that is a matter of custom ; 
their hearts are just like ours. 

But are they affectionate, kind, grateful, faithful to those they 
love, like Europeans? 

That is just what they ask about white men ! My dear wife 
was very ill one night ; I was up with her and anxious, and I 
suppose I looked pale next day. Lydia, a woman who kindly 
came in to help, observed it, and I overheard her saying to a 
neighbour, "What do you think ? These white people actually 
love each other like we do / She is ill, and he looks pale.'"' It 
was evidently a new discovery to her that white folks had 
human feelings ! I have come to the conclusion that there is 
little difference in reality. There is a mutual want of apprecia- 
tion at first. 

Well, but how treacherous and unkind they often are to 
white people, and how awfully cruel to each other at times, 
killing the innocent, burning and drowning, and selling into 
slavery ! 

True. But all that is easily accounted for. As to the mission- 
aries, remember that they knew white men before they knew mis- 
sionaries/ It is not long since slavery was done away. Traders 
and officers are not always so kind as they should be. Any 
way, the African idea of a white man is that he is a devil j and 
it takes a good deal of intimate association with one who obeys 
the law of love, and treats him as a brother and an equal, before 
he begins to feel that a white man can be a human brother ! 
Then their cruelty to each other is the fruit of love, blinded and 
maddened by superstition. It is love to each other that makes 
them seek out and kill those they believe to be witches ! 
Nothing else. I once thought that they cotild not in their hearts 
believe the nonsense of the medicine-men, or that the accused 
persons were really guilty of death. But I assure you they 
actually do, and it is equally useless to ridicule them and to 
blame them. I once said to Lutete, our first convert, a former 
nga?iga, " Surely you did not really believe all that ? ; ' " I did 



96 BARN ABA AND LYDIA. 



indeed," he replied, " thoroughly. The devil deceived me as 
much as that ! " If he believed it, how much more the common 
people ! Their cruelty is indeed base and cowardly, but it is 
born of superstition, and superstition is a terrible tyrant. 

The Christian of course gives up all that superstition after 
conversion ? 

Entirely. His superstitions never once seemed to trouble 
Lutete after he trusted in Christ. Our house had a ceiling of 
mats, forming a kind of loft — of which no use was made — under 
the roof. The natives however believed that in that loft we 
kept the spirits of all that died of the strange sad " sleeping 
sickness," which has carried off large numbers in our neighbour- 
hood lately, including twenty of our Church members. It was 
in vain we tried to show them the folly of the notion, and that 
there was nothing there. " No, not in the day time, but at 
night — ah ! " After Lutete's conversion he came to live near us, 
because his life was in danger in his own place. But his wife 
would not come ; she was afraid of these spirits, out of which it 
was alleged we got some profit. Lutete was accused of being 
a traitor to his people, for the sake of sharing in these fabulous 
" profits " ! After a while he tried to persuade his wife to come 
and live with him again. " I've been there for weeks, and I've 
seen no spirits. Come ! And I promise you that, if you see 
them, we will move away." She came, heard the gospel daily, 
and the Lord soon opened her heart and took away all her 
fears. We baptized her before long under the name of Lydia. 
Her husband was called Barnabas, because as my first Chris- 
tian brother among the natives he was such a comfort to me, a 
real son of consolation ! The people cannot pronounce a ter- 
minal s, so they call him Barnaba. 

Why do you change their names on baptism in that way ? 

They wish it themselves. They feel they are new creatures, 
entering on a new life, and they want a new name. Besides 
many of their names have bad meanings— associated with evil 
heathen customs. They give us fresh names too, for very often 
they can't pronounce our English ones. Mine— Richards — is 
a regular puzzle to them. Both the initial R and the final s 
a/e beyond them. They call me Uguankasi or uncle, and my 



CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 97 

wife Mundele Nkentu (white woman), or simply " Mama." 
Lydia was a -thoroughly intelligent woman, and quite under- 
stood the difference between flesh and spirit, faith and works, 
and so on. She was a great help among the women inquirers 
when my wife was in England. 

Do you ever have occasion to excommunicate any of your 
Church members ? 

Yes, we have done so four or five times. I do not initiate 
such action myself. I leave all questions of receiving and reject- 
ing to the Church, because I don't want to make them like 
children depending on me. I am intensely anxious to develop 
them as rapidly as possible into a self-governing and self- 
extending Church. They cannot become this till they have the 
Scriptures, and can read them. That is why we are pressing 
on as much as possible with translations. But I teach them to 
refer everything to Scripture, and decide every case according 
to its precepts. They perfectly understand that all wicked 
persons must be put away from among them, and they are 
inclined to be rather severe. But it is a good fault at first. 

What sort of cases do you put away ? 

One man was put out for marrying a second wife, while his 
first was alive. The other cases were for immorality. This 
sin is very common on the Congo, and Christians sometimes 
fall into it. They will come spontaneously and with tears and 
shame confess their sin. But the Church is very firm, and puts 
them away, and keeps them away a long time. They sometimes 
need to be urged to accept evident contrition and restore the 
offender. We have had three or four such cases. 

How do you manage about polygamy? 

If a man is a polygamist when converted we do not make 
him put away any of his wives. To do so in Africa would be 
very wrong. But we don't allow a Christian to marry more than 
one of course. They see the benefits of having only one wife, 
and say, " Ah ! it is the devil misleads our people about this." 
They see that we are far better off with one wife than they are 
with several. One day an unhappy fellow who had three had 
somehow offended them all. When he went to the first house 
— for a husband builds a separate house for each wife — the door 

C R. 7 



98 * "SEE, THOSE TWO ARE ONE!" 

was rudely shut in his face. He tried the second, only to be 
greeted with " Go away, I don't want you ! " Nor was the third 
any more willing to admit him. So he bewailed himself to me 
and said, " I have three wives, and yet none of them will let me 
in ! " They see our ways, and say : " When you go home, your 
ife get you cup of tea, make you lie down if tired, nurse you if 
sick ; kind ! good ! Why does she respect you and be so kind 
to you ? We wish our wives were like that." Then I explain 
• that they must first respect and love their wives and treat them 
as I do mine. I may say that the Christians do so. One of the 
first things I observed when Lutete was converted was that 
he was helping his wife in the field ! The people were much 
struck when they first saw us walking arm in arm. " See ! " I 
overheard them saying, " see ! those two are one ! " 

Are they kind to their children ? 

The mothers are very much so, and the fathers too, if they 
are free men, and the children are their own. But so often the 
father is a slave. Then the children belong to his master, and 
he does not care much about them. But the mothers are very 
kind, as a rule. In order to keep the public meetings quieter 
by dispensing with the babies I once proposed a creche, in 
which one or two women might mind all the infants. But the 
idea was laughed to scorn. What ! leave their babies to other 
people f Impossible ! 

Do the Christians take any part in public worship ? 

Oh, freely ! They pray in public — men and women, using 
at times of course curious expressions. I remember one man 
when pleading earnestly for holiness said, " Lord, make our 
hearts pure, make them clean : as clean as a white man's 
plate ! " I could not but smile ; but our washing up dishes, and 
keeping them bright and clean is strange to them, and had 
struck this man. As to preaching, the converts are some of 
them really gifted, and speak with great power. 

Mr. Ingham wrote to me lately of a boy who has been con- 
verted since I left, who can hold in rapt attention an audience 
of hundreds. Yet Congo folk are like people here : they won't 
stay in a meeting unless they are interested. 

Was that lad one you knew ? 



J 



CONGO MOTHERS 



99 



Ay ! and one I had prayed for, and striven with, and taught, 
and longed for many a year ! A good, bright boy, bat an 
inveterate thief. We could not trust him out of our sight. He 
seemed to steal for the sake of stealing, even when he could 
make no use of the thing stolen. Now all is changed. Mr. 
and Mrs. Ingham are pretty slow to believe in the natives ; but 
they write that this lad is so good, so earnest, and so gifted, 
that he ought to be sent to America for a good education at 
one of the Southern colleges. I hope he may be. 

Then you believe in educating Congo lads in Europe and 
America ? 

No, not as a rule. I think it generally 
makes them very troublesome. But there 
exceptional character. We must have some 
teachers and preachers by-and-by, to be 
colleges, and so on. I would prepare a few such lads who can 
stand it without getting spoiled. Tommy is such a nice bright 
fellow, that I never could help loving him, even when he was 
always giving me trouble by his dishonesty. He would be 
utterly ashamed when convicted or caught, but seemed as if he 
could not help it. Now 



spoils them, and 

are cases of an 

high-class native 

heads of native 



grace has altered him ; he 
is honest and trustworthy, 
and so gifted, that he 
quite eclipses Lukoke of 
Lukunga. 

Have you many such 
preachers ? 

Not so good ; but we 




ttfC 



FLOGGING AS A PUNISHMENT. 



have many. Indeed, all the men feel it their duty to testify 
for Christ, and some of the women. And they do it to white 
men as well as black sometimes ; for they always ask about 
any one they meet, " Is he a child of God?" If we cannot say 
yes, they conclude at once that he is a child of the devil ; for 
they have no conception of a neutral condition, and I am not 
sure but they are right in that ! They perfectly distinguish be- 
tween the two classes, and that the whites differ just as much 
as they do among themselves. One of our Christians began 
evangelizing a young officer once. This man wrote and asked 
me: "What has come over your Banza Manteka men? I can't 
understand what has changed them so wonderfully. Do tell 
me." Ah ! the grace of God is a wonderful power ! 
What do you think about flogging as a punishment ? 
I altogether and unhesitatingly object to it, even for boys. I 
consider it quite as ungodly to beat an African as an English- 
man. What right have we — missionaries, traders, or travellers 
— to beat men ? None whatever. I have seen horrid, blood- 
curdling cruelties of this kind perpetrated on helpless natives, 
on women, ay, and on young women too, by traders. But it 
is wicked, unprincipled, and unjust ! We have no more right 
to commit a personal assault on a naked black man who is 
willing to work for us, than on a white labourer employed here. 
It is a remnant of slavery, and a detestable crime. There is no 
need for it, only selfishness and passion in possession of un- 
bridled power lead to it. Other punishments might be annexed 
to crime. The natives themselves never thrash anybody. They 
are very angry if they are struck, and feel it to be a gross insult. 
I made it a principle never under any provocation to strike man 
or boy. I believe that Africans should be treated precisely like 
Europeans; kindly, respectfully, and in a brotherly, manly way. 
Patronage they hate ! We may think ourselves superior, but 
they do not see it. They often think white men uncommonly 
poor creatures. We can't do many things they can do, and 
they don't understand the assumption of Europeans. A white 
man who strikes a native loses influence with them at once, 
and can never do them any good. They must be won by 
love, just like Englishmen. We must forget that they are 




JOSEPH CLARKE, OF PALABALA, 
AND TWO CHRISTIAN LADS. 



black, it makes no real difference. They are men. Even with 
children, we punish some other way — never by striking. 

But what would you do with a naughty boy ? 

Well, I had trouble with one who had been in England. He 
was cross and sulky, and wanted toilet soap, if you please, and 
better food, and I caught him domineering over other boys, 
and even beating them and making them cry. I took him into 
my room, reminded him he was only a slave to the king, and 
of all I had done for him and taught him, upbraided him for 
ingratitude, and told him decidedly I would have no nonsense. 
"If I see any more such conduct, I take off your clothes and 
send you away back to the town to be a slave again." The boy 



102 NATIVE QUICKNESS +N LEARNING, 



was quite broken down, ashamed, and grieved, and I had no 
more trouble with him. After the revival I got the king, who 
set a high price on the lad, to set him free. He is married now, 
a good Christian man. 

Are the children in the schools fairly quick in learning ? 

Not the little ones. But after five or six years old I should 
say they are remarkably so. N'snuda, a girl of nine or ten, 
learned to read well in about eight months ; so did Wamba 
and N'kimba, younger boys, and to do some arithmetic also. 
One week N'snuda learned by heart perfectly the first, third, 
and fourth of John. David, a young fellow of twenty, learned 
to read in public right well. He preached, too, so well that an 
American lady who heard him said, " If I had known you had 
such evangelists as that, I do not think I should have come to 
Africa ! " 

And you hope to be able to leave the Church at Banza 
Manteka some day, commending its native elders to God and 
to the word of His grace ? 

I do indeed ; as soon as they shall have the word of His 
grace, or the greater part of it. But as yet they have not this 
by any means. We have the gospels, and parts of Romans and 
Genesis and other books ; but there is very much yet to be done 
in translation. The language is a most rich and complicated 
one. Very few missionaries understand it thoroughly yet. The 
people need much instruction before they will be able to stand 
alone. But really if they had the Bible I should scarcely fear 
to leave them even now ! The Lord would lead them on ! 
They have set apart some of their number as evangelists, 
and they strongly realize their joyful duty to spread the glad 
tidings. 

That sleeping sickness seems sadly prevalent ? Can it not 
be cured ? 

No ; patients invariably die. The nature of the complaint 
is not well understood. I think it is a brain disease, from a 
strange look in the eyes, which I have always noticed as pre- 
ceding it. The victim becomes stupid after a time, and loses 
memory and power of motion. Many die too from small- 
pox. But the State Government has done good by introducing 
vaccine, and forbidding sick carriers to enter the towns. The 
people have learned to vaccinate themselves, and villages have 
been saved from attack by this. But we have lost many 
members from both diseases. Not unfrequently w r hen a name 
is mentioned in calling over the roll at a Church meeting the 
answer comes, " Balukidi v —gonz up ! 



APPENDIX A. 

List of present Missionary Agencies 
in the Congo Free State. 

Eleven different missionary agencies are already at work in the Congo 
Free State— three Roman Catholic and eight Protestant. 

1. The Mission du Saint Esprit, at Banana and Boma, under the 
care of Mgr. Carrie. Four priests and two lay brethren are connected 
with this mission, which has small schools, and gives some industrial 
training to the children. 

2. The Belgian Mission, established only in 1888 at Kwamouth, on 
the Upper Congo, and hoping to plant a second station at Luluaberg, 
on the Kasai, shortly. 

3. There is a mission worked by the Peres o? Alger ie (or Algerian 
priests) in the south-east part of the Free State. It has two stations at 
Mpala and Kibango, on Lake Tanganyika, but it does not seem to be 
having much success. The Romanists are showing more activity in 
Portuguese territory than in the Free State. 

The Protestant missions are : 

1. The Livingstone Inland Mission of the American Baptist Mis- 
sionary Union, with seven stations — Mukimvika, opposite Banana on 
the coast, Palabala, Banza Manteka, and Lukunga, in the Cataract 
gorge ; and Leopoldville, Bwemba, and Wangata on the upper 
river. This mission has now about thirty missionaries, and has many 
schools and chapels, with some hundreds of baptized Church members, 
including many native preachers. It has a steamer on the upper 
river, and has prepared, in the various dialects spoken through seven 
hundred miles of country, many translations from the Scriptures, 
besides vocabularies, grammars, and school books. It has also medical 

103 



104 PROTESTANT MISSIONS 

missions at Mukimvika and Kinchassa. It has been working for the 
last twelve years, and exerts a good deal of influence among the natives. 

2. The English Baptist Missionary Society has seven stations — 
Tundwa, on the lower river, St. Salvador (Portuguese territory), 
? Ngombe, or Lutete, in the Cataract region, and Kinchassa, Bolobo, 
and Lukolela, on the upper river. The steamer Peace belongs to this 
mission, and in it Mr. Grenfell has done much good service by ex- 
plorations of many of the tributaries of the Congo. Mr. Bentley, of 
'Ngombe, is the author of the best dictionary extant of the Ki-kongo 
language : and several translations have also been prepared. Mrs. 
Bentley is endeavouring to teach the natives the working of the tele- 
graph, in preparation for the time when the railway will require young 
telegraphists. She took back with her from Europe a miniature tele- 
graph line for teaching purposes. Many native converts are connected 
with this mission, which has also been working twelve years in the 
country. 

3. The excellent Swedish Missionary Society's work was originally 
connected with the Livingstone Inland Mission, and occupied its 
station of Mukimbungu, between Isanghila and Manyanga ; but when 
the transfer of this Mission to the American Baptist Missionary Union 
took place in 1884, it was arranged that the Swedes should work an 
independent mission from that station as a centre, supported and directed 
from their own country. They have now about twenty missionaries, 
and have formed two additional stations on the north side of the Congo 
— Diadia and Kibunzi. They have many converts, Mr. Westlind is a 
remarkably good linguist, and has translated John's Gospel. 

4. Bishop Taylor* s Mission was formed to work on the great southern 
tributary of the Congo, the Kasai ; but though commenced four 
years ago (in 1886), with an unusually large first party, consisting of 
twenty-four missionaries, under the bishop's own leading, it has not 
yet reached its field of labour, or commenced any missionary work 
proper. The peculiar plans which were adopted have proved totally 
unsuited to the country. Very large sums of money were expended 
on a raft and traction-engine, brought from America, and subsequently 
on a steamer, so constructed that its heavier portions could not be 
landed at Vivi or carried up country. None of this machinery has 
been of any use as yet. The principle of self-support was attempted ; 
and as a result the agents of the mission have suffered great privations, 
many having died, and others have left the Congo. The rest are scattered 
around Banana, Vivi, and Isanghila, and are making a brave struggle 



IN THE CONGO FREE STATE. 105 

to sustain life by shooting hippopotami, and selling the dried flesh to 
the natives, in exchange for the produce of the country. Four of the 
party are occupying an old State station at Kimpoko, on Stanley Pool, 
and attempting a little agriculture and trade ; but none of the would- 
be missionaries have been able to devote much time to studying the 
languages, or teaching the people. None of their stations exert as yet 
any spiritual influence over the neighbouring districts, and consequently 
no converts have been made. But the mission has not been long at 
work. 

New plans are not always an improvement on old ones ! Nothing 
can exceed the bishop's cheerful courage and confidence in the ultimate 
success of his methods, nor his enthusiastic desire to do good in Africa. 
We hope that he may yet — by somewhat modifying his plans, and 
adapting them to the backward state of development in the country — 
succeed in planting his mission on the Kasai. He has come to the 
conclusion that he will have, like others before him, to found a chain 
of stations before he can launch a steamer on the Pool, and that the 
heavy one first taken out is no use for this purpose. He intends to 
reconstruct and use it on the lower river, where however trading 
steamers are now plying. 

5. A second American agency has tried to follow somewhat on these 
lines, The Missionary Evangelical Alliance ; but its operations, at 
present, consist only of one small attempt near Vivi, where the mis- 
sionaries reside in a little native hut, and live by hunting buffalo and 
antelopes. They smoke the flesh of these animals, and sell it to the 
natives. It is clear that men who have to support themselves and 
their families in Africa will never have much time for either study or 
teaching ! The Congo country is not one for colonists : its climate 
renders it totally unlike South Africa in this respect. For European 
teachers to live in it at all is difficult, and every working hour of their 
lives ought consequently to be devoted to direct missionary work. It 
is a pity if the Church of Christ, which gives such large sums to 
sustain its ministers at home, cannot afford to sustain its ministers 
abroad, and thus liberate them from the necessity of wasting their 
priceless time and risking their precious lives in order to procure them- 
selves food. 

6. In the south-east part of the Congo Free State, among the sources 
of the Congo in the Garengange country, Mr. F. S. Arnot has estab- 
lished his mission. After years of weary peregrinations through the 
Zambesi and Barotse districts he found this location suitable for the 



106 MISSIONS IN THE CONGO FREE STATE. 

residence of Europeans. The mission is still in its infancy, though 
Mr. Arnot has not yet succeeded in making his way back to his station 
with his wife and new helpers, and in rejoining his colleagues there. 
It is one of the most interesting and heroic of missions, very far 
removed from all communication with other Europeans, and hundreds 
of miles distant from any base of supplies. The climate of Garangange 
is fairly healthy, and the king of the country friendly. But the immense 
distance from the coast, and the absence of a connecting chain of 
stations, make the difficulties, dangers, and expenses very great. 

7- The London Missionary Society's Mission, on Lake Tanganyika, 
is also in the Congo Free State. Their stations are Kavala Island 
and Fwamboon, the southern extremity of the lake. This mission, 
long under the care of Captain Hore (who is now in England), has 
endured severe trials, and has felt the immense difficulties arising from 
its remote position — a walk of 800 miles from Zanzibar being involved 
in getting to the lake. The only other means of access {via the Zam- 
besi, Shire, Lake Nyassa, and the Stevenson Road) being, though easier, 
too precarious to depend upon, and frequently blocked by Arabs. This 
mission has the steamer Good News 011 the lake, and has done some 
excellent work in schools and preaching the gospel ; but the sphere is 
a hard one. 

8. The Congo-Balolo Mission, on the Upper Congo — our own mis- 
sion born last spring — has selected for its sphere the six southern 
tributaries of the Congo beyond Equatorville, the Lulonga, Maringa, 
Lopori, Ikelemba, Juapa, and Bosira, presenting together about 2,000 
miles of navigable water-way, with towns and villages on both banks. 
It has eleven missionaries. The first party reached their destination 
about six months after leaving England, though taking with them a 
considerable amount of material for the construction of their first 
stations. They have the use of the A.B.M.U. steamer Henry Reed, 
kindly lent for a year, before the expiration of which it is hoped their 
own steamer, the Pioneer — sent out in December, 1889, for recon- 
struction — will be ready for the use of the mission. Mr. and Mrs. 
McKittrick, Messrs. Whytock, Haupt, Howell, Todd, and Blake, 
together with Miss de Hailes, formed the first party of this mission. 
They were reinforced early in 1890 by Messrs. Adamson, Luff, and 
Cole. The two former went out in charge of the new steamer ; and 
the latter as missionary agriculturist to assist on the Lulonga. The 
mission has already two stations, Mulonga and Ikau. 



UNEVANGELIZED AFRICA. 10? 

When wg remember that all this country was unknown eleven years 
ago, and that the Congo Free State itself dates only from 1885 — such 
an array of agencies, scattered over its vast area already, is a most 
hopeful sign. Christianity, even in its least pure form, is a vast ad- 
vance on the cruelties and fetish of Central Africa. In its pure form 
it is life from the dead. 

When the Livingstone Inland Mission began its operations in January, 
1878, it stood alone; now it is, thank God! one among a dozen dif- 
ferent organizations having the spread of Christianity for their object. 
We hear also that the American Presbyterians intend to enter the field, 
which is vast enough — being as large as all India — to welcome a dozen 
more agencies. 

All these missions together only muster about a hundred effective 
workers, and there are about fifty millions to be evangelized in the 
Congo Free wState alone, and probably five times that number in the 
rest, of unevangelized Africa. 

From the last mission station on the Upper Congo, a journey of a 
thousand miles would be needed to reach the nearest stations on the 
east — those on the great lakes. Seventeen hundred miles to the north- 
east lies the Red Sea, and there is no mission station between ! Two 
thousand two hundred miles due north is the Mediterranean, and no 
mission station between ; while two thousand five hundred miles to 
the north-west are the stations of the North African Mission, but no 
single centre of light between ! Seven hundred miles to the west is the 
Cameroons Station, but the whole intervening country is unvisited ; and 
in the south-west the American Mission at Bihe is fully a thousand 
miles distant. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "If ye love Me, keep My command- 
ments." His last commandments were : 

"GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO 
EVERY CREATURE." And 

"YE SHALL EE WITNESSES UNTO ME . . . UNTO THE UTTER- 
MOST PARTS OF THE EARTH." 



THE EAST LONDON INSTITUTE 

FOR HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



Founder and Hon. Director : 
H. GRATTAN GUINNESS, D.D., F.R.G.S. 

Hon. Secretary: 
MRS. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS. 

Treasurer : 

SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD. 

Bankers : 

London and South-western Bank (Bow Branch). 

Hon. Auditors: 
Arthur J. Hill, Vellacott & Co., Finsbury Circus. 

Trustees : 
Theodore Howard, Esq., Westleigh, Bickley, Kent. 
Capt. the Hon. R. Moreton, Hamilton, Ontario. 
Rev. J. Stephens, M.A., Somerset Villa, Dartmouth Park Hill, N. 
J. van Sommer, Esq. , 13, New Inn, Strand, W.C. 
Sir Arthur Blackwood, K.C.B., Shortlands House, Shortlands, 
Kent. 

Hon. London Director: 

H. GRATTAN-GUINNESS, M.R.C.S. 



This Institute was founded in March, 1872, with a 
view to increase the number of ambassadors for Christ 
among the heathen, and in the darker regions of 
Christendom. 

THE WORLD'S POPULATION, according to the best 
estimates, is at present about 1,400 millions. Only 
about 400 millions are, even in name, Christians, and 
the remainder of over a thousand millions are conse- 
quently non-Christians, and for the most part heathen. 
The greater part of this almost inconceivable mass 
have never heard of Christ, and have little chance of 
doing so, for Protestant missionaries are scattered 
among them only in the proportion of ONE to every 

iog 



no THE EAST LONDON INSTITUTE 

three or four hundred thousand. No single indivi- 
dual could possibly minister the word of life to such 
a multitude, even in Christendom ; how much less in 
heathendom ! 

The supply is clearly inadequate, and yet 
the evangelical Churches at home are rich both in 
men and money. There is no reason why it should 
not speedily be doubled, trebled, multiplied tenfold. 
There are in our home Churches thousands of con- 
verted and devoted young men and women suitable 
for missionaries, and willing to become such ; and 
there is wealth enough in the hands of Christians to 
send them forth and sustain them among the heathen. 
Some of these are educated, and have already engaged 
more or less in the service of God in this land, and 
having means of their own, can go forth into heathen- 
dom when they will. Others hear the call of God, 
and desire to obey, but lack the needful education, 
and have neither leisure nor means to acquire it, nor 
the ability to go forth at their own charges. 

Our Institute seeks to arouse men and women 
of this latter class, to hear and heed the last great 
command of Christ : it helps them to fit themselves 
for service in heathendom, or in other needy spheres, 
by offering them, freely, a course of suitable study 
and practical training. It then introduces them to the 
field for which they seem best adapted, and, if need 
be, sustains or helps to sustain them in it. It seeks 
also, and in order to all this, the diffusion of informa- 
tion by press and platform as to the world's wants 
and the Lord's work, so as to deepen in the hearts of 
Christians at home practical compassion for the heathen 
and a sense of responsibility to give them the gospel. 

Two COLLEGES, each adapted for fifty men — one 
in East London and the other in North Derbyshire — 



FOR HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



are connected with the Institute, which has also a 
Training Home for thirty young women stu- 
dents preparing for missionary work. The course 
of study and practical training is adapted to afford 
the students such help as they are capable of receiv- 
ing, and as will fit them for future usefulness in the 
sphere to which they may seem best adapted. It 
extends over three years, and, in the case of regular 
medical students, over a longer time. All the stu- 
dents receive a certain measure of medical preparation, 
both theoretical and practical. 

An extensive Home Mission work, in which 
the students receive practical training, is carried on 
in connexion with the Institute, among the working 
classes in East London. Its operations comprise a 
medical mission with a numerously attended dispen- 
sary, and a maternity department worked under a 
certificated lady by the young women students ; 
mothers' meetings ; night schools for men, for lads, 
and for factory girls ; a soup kitchen ; Band of Hope 
and temperance meetings ; house-to-house visitation, 
open-air preaching, tent meetings in summer, Sunday 
schools and Bible classes, and gospel preaching. 
Two mission halls in Bow and Bromley, with school- 
rooms and classrooms attached, are worked directly 
and exclusively by the Institute, and the students 
help in a large number of other mission halls, and 
preach also in churches and chapels. 

The Institute is broadly catholic in its 
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE ; it trains men of all 
evangelical denominations, of all nationalities, and of 
all classes ; and it trains them for all societies, all 
lands, and all spheres of Christian effort. It is as 
comprehensive as it is possible to be, within the limits 
of evangelical truth. It seeks to be GODLY and 
practical in character and in methods : to cultivate 



ii2 EAST LONDON INSTITUTE 

devotion, dependence on God, self-denial, self-support 
as far as possible, and self-sacrifice ; and it aims 
especially at " the regions beyond," or neglected and 
unevangelized fields at home and abroad. 

The students have been of various nation- 
alities : not only English, Scotch, Irish, and Ame- 
rican, but French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, 
Danish, Russian, Bulgarian, Syrian, Egyptian, Kaffir, 
Negro, Hindu, Parsi, Kurdish, and Jewish. They 
have also been of various denominations. The large 
majority of those who have gone out as missionaries 
are now connected with about twenty different so- 
cieties and associations, while a number are working 
ndependently as self-sustaining missionaries, medical 
or otherwise. 

More than five hundred missionaries, 
former students in the Institute, are now labouring in 
China, India, Syria, Armenia, Egypt ; in France, 
Spain, Portugal, Italy; East, West, North, South, and 
Central Africa, in Natal and Cape Colony ; in Prince 
Edward's Isle, Cape Breton, Canada, and the Western 
States of America ; in the West Indies, Brazil, and 
the Argentine Republic ; in Australia and New 
Zealand ; as well as in various parts of the home 
mission field. The object of the Institute is especially 
to send evangelists to " the regions beyond " those 
already evangelized. 

One hundred and twenty students are now 
in training, and some of their number are continually 
passing out into the great world-field. One every 
week, on an average, enters on active missionary life. 

Contributions in aid of any of the objects of the Institute may be 
sent either to the Treasurer, Sir Arthur Blackwood, K.C.B., 
Shortlands House, Shortlands, Kent ; or to the Secretary, Mrs. H. 
Grattan Guinness, Harley House, Bow, London, E., from whom 
fuller information can be had on application. 



AND CONGO BALOLO MISSION. 113 



Gbe CongoBalolo fllMasion 

is formed for the evangelization of the millions of Balolo people 
dwelling in the great horseshoe-shaped territory of the Upper Congo, 
and accessible by its southern affluents, the Lulonga, Lopori, Maringa, 
Ikelemba, Juapa, and Bosira. 

It is a continuation and extension of the Livingstone Inland Mission, 
commenced in 1878, and now occupying and working a chain of seven 
Stations from the Coast to the Equator. 

It was founded in the spring of 1889, and has eleven Missionaries, 
two Stations, and the steamer Pioneer. 



DIRECTORATE. 

The Managers of the East London Institute. 

TREASURER. 

Sir Arthur Blackwood, K.C.B., Shortlands House, Kent. 

BANKERS. 

The London and County Banking Company, Limited, 
Lombard Street, E.C. 

HON. AUDITORS. 

Arthur J. Hill, Vellacott & Co., Finsbury Circus. 

HON. SECRETARY. 
H. Grattan Guinness, Jun., M.R.C.S., Harley House, Bow, E. 

ADVISORY COUNCIL. 

Rev. Archibald G. Brown, 22, Bow Road, E. 

P. S. Badenoch, Esq., Mildmay Conference Hall, N. 

Richard Cory, Esq., Oscar House, Cardiff. 

Dr. H. Grattan and Mrs. Guinness, Cliff House, Curbar, via 

Sheffield. 
Mr. and Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness, Jun., Harley House, Bow, E. 
Miss L. Guinness, Cliff House, Curbar, via Sheffield. 
Richard Hill, Esq., 3, Lombard Court, E.C. 
E. J. Kennedy, Esq., Exeter Hall, W.C. 
Dr. Macrae, i, Bow Road, E. 
W. Seagram, Esq., 86, Piccadilly, W. 

C. R. ' 8 



Just Published, Second and enlarged Edition of 




Coloured Map, Portrait, and numerous Illustrations. In cloth, price 
5^*. Direct from Harley House, post free, y. 6d. In boards, 
45". ; post free, 2s. 6d. 

" Instinct with life. Yet all is told so gently and with such effusive • 
ness of love for the work, that many, we hope, may be led to recognise 
the beauty of individual self-devotion, animated by a principle so lofty 
as to be able to sustain itself undaunted, in view of difficulties that, to 
human sight, might well be deemed invincible. The volume is beauti- 
fully illustrated." — Scottish Guardian. 

" A beautifully prepared and tastefully illustrated book on Chinese 
mission work. The evident sincerity breathed in every line, and the 



spiritual needs of the vast Chinese empire lying as a heavy burden on 
the writer's heart, find constant expression in burning words of self- 
consecration and appeal." — Methodist Recorder. 

"Very bright and graphic letters, . . . charmingly 'got up, 5 
under skilful editorship ; . . . altogether most attractive. The 
veiy thing to read aloud." — Church Missionary Intelligencer. 

"A choice and dainty volume, beautifully illustrated with pictures 
of Chinese life and scenery. The letters are worthy of the setting, 
being natural and picturesque descriptions of missionary travel, life, 
and work, bringing China and its millions home to us in all their need. 
The tone is high and earnest." — Church of Scotland Mission Record. 

" I have been dipping into your so beatctiful i In the Far East,' with 
my dim, dim eyes." — Dr. Davia Brown. 

" Thank you most sincerely for sending me this book. I have read 
it with great interest, and will do what little is in my power to make 
its burning pages known." — Professor Henry Drummond. 

"The best account of the first experiences of China to a traveller 
and missionary that I have ever met with ; altogether beside their 
value for deep piety. The extreme taste and beauty of the illustrations 
and general get up of the volume leave nothing to be desired." — Rev. 
F. B. Meyer, M.A. 

"I have greatly enjoyed l In the Far East.' God blessing it, the 
book should send armies of believers to invade the Flowery Land. 
Your sister is happy in her editor. God bless you, and all the beloved 
household. Yours heartily." — C. H. Sfiurgeou. 

"The gift of writing well for the great cause of missions, joined 
with the consecrated art of working well therefor, we see admirably 
exhibited in this little volume. The earlier letters of the collection we 
were privileged to hear read in the English home from which the 
beloved daughter went forth, and to which she sent back these glowing 
records of her evangelistic journeyings and labours. We were deeply 
impressed then, as we have been in the re-reading, with the graphic 
beauty and evangelical richness of these missionary epistles. They 
are worthy of publication for the spirit which is in them, for the in- 
formation which they convey, and for the fire which they are sure to 
communicate to Christian hearts by the burning zeal which kindles ic 
their every word and sentence." — A. J. Gordon. 



"5 



The following works, in various Congo languages, have been prepared, 
among others, by members of the mission : 

A SMALL DICTIONARY OF THE LANGUAGE (English-Congo and Congo- 
English) : together with a list of useful sentences for Missionaries and Travellers 
in the Congo Cataract Region. By the late Henry Craven and John Bar- 
field, B.A. 248 pages. 

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN, EXODUS XX., AND GENESIS I.-III. Trans- 
lated into Ki-kongo. By T. H. Hoste. 

A VOCABULARY OF KILOLO, as spoken by the Bankundu, a section of the 
Balolo tribe, at Ikengo (Equator), Upper Congo. With a few Introductory 
Notes on the Grammar. By J. B. Eddie. 200 pages. 

A GRAMMAR OF THE CONGO LANGUAGE, as spoken 200 years ago. Trans- 
lated from the Latin of Brusciotto. Edited by H. Grattan Guinness, D.D. 
112 pages. 

A GRAMMAR OF THE CONGO LANGUAGE, as now spoken in the Cataract 
Region below Stanley Pool. By H. Grattan Guinness, D.D. 267 pages, 8vo. 

MOSAIC HISTORY AND GOSPEL STORY, Epitomised in the Congo Language. 
By H. Grattan Guinness, D.D. 87 pages, 8vo. 

THE CONCORDS OF THE CONGO LANGUAGE. Being a Contribution to the 
Syntax of the Congo Tongue. By John Barfield, B.A. 160 pages, small 8vo. 

THE PEEP OF DAY, translated into the Ki-kongo Language. By J. B. Eddie. 

THE PEEP OF DAY, translated into N'Kundu, a dialect of the Kilolo Language, 
as spoken at the Equator, Upper Congo. By J. B. Eddie. 120 pages. 

THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK, translated into the Ki-kongo Language. By 
C. H. Harvey. 98 pages. 

RIBANGI VOCABULARY. By A. Sims, M.B. hi pages. 

YALULEMA VOCABULARY. By A. Sims, M.B. 35 pages. 

CONGO READING BOOK. 96 pages. 

THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE, translated into the Ki-kongo Language. By H. 
Richards. 154 pages. 

ST. MATTHEW V.-VII. (Mataiona), translated into Ki-kongo. 

EXODUS (Wavaikttiti), translated into Ki-kongo. By Chas. E. Ingham. 89 
pages. 

Two Reading Books, compiled by C. E. Ingham, consist of the 

following : 

No. 1. HOME LESSONS, by Mrs. Ingham. Short Sentences, etc. Collection of 

Congo Fables. 
No. 2. HOME LESSONS. Genesis i.-iii. ; Romans i., ii. ; Luke i., ii. ; Sermon on 

Mount ; Romans viii. ; Hymns. 



1. GENESIS I.-XXII. By C. E. Ingham. 

2. MATTHEW I.-XI. By H. Richards. 

3. JOHN'S GOSPEL. By Westlind, S.M.S. 

4. MARK'S GOSPEL. By Cameron, of B. M.S. 

5. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. By Nkoiyo, A.B.M.U. 

6. KITEKE VOCABULARY. By A. Sims, M.B. As spoken by the Beteke and 

kindred tribes of the Upper Congo. 190 pages. 

7. THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. By H. Grattan Guinness, D.D. 

assisted by Nkoiyo. 

8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. By H. Grattan Guinness, D.D., assisted 

by Nkoiyo. 

9. JOHN'S GOSPEL. By A. Sims, M.B. Translated into Kiteke. 



f^EGIOJ^S 

BEYOJME). 

MONTHLY ORGAN OF THE 

Cast £on)on institute for lome an) 
jfcretgn ifflfesions, 

AND OF THE 

Balolo JHfeKtoit to tbe ©pper Congo* 

EDITED BY 

MRS. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS. 

CONTAINS 

Leading Articles on Missionary Questions. 

Notices of Unevangelized Nations and Newly Opened Spheres. 

Current Missionary News, and Special Notice of all Advance in 

Africa. 
Tidings from former Students of the East London Institute, now 

working in various parts of the World. 
The Record of the Congo-Balolo Mission. 
Letters from Miss Guinness in China. 
Accounts of Home Mission Work, especially that of the East London 

Institute. 
Poetry, Music, Portraits, Maps, and Illustrations. 



3Lon&0tt : 
S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., 9, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 

America : 
TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, MASS. 



Works by Dr. & Mrs. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS. 



THE DIVINE PROGRAMME OF THE WORLD'S 

HISTORY. By Dr. and Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness. Demy 
8vo, cloth, 7j. 6d. Direct from the Authors, post free, for 6s. 2d. 

LIGHT FOR THE LAST DAYS: a Study, Historical 
and Prophetical. By Dr. and Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness. 
In 8vo, cloth, with two Coloured Diagrams, price *js. 6d. Direct 
from the Authors, post free for 6s. 2d. 

ROMANISM AND THE REFORMATION. From 
the Standpoint of Prophecy. By Dr. H. Grattan Guinness. 
In cloth, crown 8vo, price $s. Direct from the Author, post free, 
for 4s. 2d. 

THE APPROACHING END OF THE AGE. Viewed 
in the Light of History, Prophecy, and Science. By Dr. H. 
Grattan Guinness, F.R.G.S. Tenth edition, in one large 
volume, with four Diagrams, crown^ 8vo, 700 pages, cloth, price 
7 J. 6d. Direct from the Author, post free, for 6s. 2d. 

FALLACIES OF FUTURISM. By Dr. and Mrs. H. 
Grattan Guinness. 93 pages, demy 8vo. For distribution, 
3d. each. Single copies, post free, price 6d. 

THE WEEK AND ITS ORIGIN. By Dr. H. Grattan 

Guinness, F.R.G.S. A Reply to the Article of the Bishop of 
Carlisle in the Contemporary Review. Price, post free, 3d. 

THE HERESY OF THE REV. G. O. BARNES 

(the "Kentucky Evangelist") Exposed and Answered. By H. 
Grattan Guinness. Price, post free, 2d. 

SHE SPAKE OF HIM. Being Recollections of the loving 
Labours and Early Death of Mrs. Henry Dening. By Mrs. 
Guinness. Seventh Edition, with nine Illustrations. 256 
pages, large 8vo. Price, in cloth, post free, is. 6d. 

LEAFLET PACKET {New Edition). Containing Twenty- 
four Assorted and Illustrated MISSIONARY LEAFLETS. By 
Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness. Suitable for inclosing in letters. 
Price, post free, 6d. 

THE NEW WORLD OF CENTRAL AFRICA: Its 

Condition and Claims on Christians. Including a History of the 
Livingstone Inland Mission. With Maps, Portraits, and 
Illustrations. By Mrs. Grattan Guinness. Price, post free, 5«r. 



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